140-170 million years old

1. The feather (1860)
   Museum of the Academy of Sciences, Munich (slab)
   Humbolt Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (counterslab)
        The feather in about 60mm long and 11 mm wide with a central rachis that divides the feather into two asymmetrical vanes, one about twice as wide as the other. The asymetrical vanes show it to be a flight feather of a bird, and as such, there is nothing really remarkable about it, except that it is about 150 million years old.

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2. London Specimen (1861) BMNH 37001
   British Museum of Natural History, London
        This is one of the three most important specimens and is the type specimen of a new genus, Archaeopteryx, and species, lithographica. The specimen was named by Hermann von Meyer, who had also announced the feather. It was part of the collection of Carl Häberlein, a local physician, who may have accepted it as payment from a quarryman. He put it on sale in 1862 in order to raise money for his daughter's dowry. Although there was an attempt to keep the specimen in Germany, J. Andreas Wagner, a professor of zoology at Munich University declared that was no such thing as a transitional between a reptile and a bird and therefore, Archaeopteryx could not be one. As a result, it was impossible to raise sufficient funds to purchase the specimen.
        At the British Museum, the honor of formally describing Archaeopteryx fell to Richard Owen. Owen declared that the specimen was "unequivocally a bird" with some characters seen only in the embryos of modern birds and yet other features indicating "a closer adhesion to the general vertebrate type." Owen ignored a small jaw fragment containing four teeth that was found on the same slab as Archaeopteryx. Owen concluded that since Archaeopteryx had feathers, it must also have had a toothless beak for preening.
        Thomas Huxley, Darwin's friend, undertook his own description of the fossil in which he challenged Owen's conclulsions. Huxley also observed that the foot of Archaeopteryx was very similar to Compsognathus, a small dinosaur also found in Solnhofen limestone.

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3. Berlin Specimen (1877) HMN 1880
   Humbolt Museum, Berlin
        Ernst Häberlein, the son of Carl, bought this specimen from the quarry manager intending to sell it. Although the Yale Peabody Museum made an offer, the specimen was eventually bought by the Prussian Ministry of Culture. It was permanently housed in the Humboldt Museum für Naturkunde. It was not formally described until 1897 by Wilhelm Dames. While the small fragment of jaw with four teeth could be reasonably disassociated from the London specimen, the Berlin specimen had a head, complete with teeth.

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4. Maxberg Specimen (1955) S5
   Private - Formerly at Maxberg Museum at Solnhofen
        The Maxberg Specimen is a partial skeleton that was found at Solnhofen. It was badly decayed and disarticulated prior to fossilization. Nevertheless, the faint feather impressions are visible. It was exhibited in the Maxberg Museum for a number of years but has been withdrawn and is no longer available for scientific study. According to Chris Nedin, the former owner, Eduard Opitsch of Pappenheim died in 1992 and the specimen was found to be missing. It may have been sold privately. Nevertheless, its whereabouts are unknown.

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5. Teyler Specimen (1970) TM 6428
   Teyler Museum, Haarlem, Holland
        Probably the most interesting story of all the Archaeopteryx fossils. Originally discovered in 1855, it was displayed at the Teyler Museum as the type specimen of Pterodactylus crassipes. John Ostrom of Yale University was attempting a comprehensive functional analysis of pterodactyl fossils around the world in order to determine how they flew. He visited the Teyler Museum to the specimens there, especially the P. crassipes. While studying the fossil he carried it to a window to view it under natural light. There he saw the faint impressions of the feathers. Ostrom recognized what he held at once; the 5th Archaeopteryx specimen. Ostrom had the honor of describing it.

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6. Eichstätt Specimen (1973) JM 2257
   Jura Museum
        F. X. Mayr, while examining a specimen of Compsognathus that had been discovered in 1951, recognized another Archaeopteryx. Only the Aktien-Verein specimen is smaller. It has several poorly ossified bones, especially the shoulders. This has lead some some to believe that the Eichstätt specimen may be a seperate species. Others think that it may have been a juvenile.

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7. Solnhofen Specimen (1988) S6
   Private
        This specimen was found some time in the '60s and was in the private collection of the former mayor of Solnhofen. Like the previous specimen, it was identified as a Compsognathus. It was recognized in 1988. After cleaning and preparation the feather impressions became quite clear. In 1868 Huxley commented that Archaeopteryx without feathers looked like a small dinosaur. Three of the first six specimens were identified as either a dinosaur or a flying reptile.

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8. Solnhofen Aktien-Verein Specimen (1992) BSP 1999
        Although this is the smallest of the specimens, it appears to be an adult. This fact coupled with several other unique characteristics suggests that it is a new species, A. bavarica. This specimen has a bony sternum with a small keel. It also has interdental plates clearly visible in the lower jaw, a characteristic of only the theropod dinosaurs and the thecodont reptiles.

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