Interior Design/Fossils: A large fossil starfish,... Lot 109

Interior Design/Fossils: A large fossil starfish, Solnhofen, Germany, Lower Jurassic, 25cm by 42cm, Unusually this plaque shows the trail of the animals movement., Solnhofen in Germany is one of the most famous and important fossil localities in the world, and it is from here that the celebrated Archaeopteryx (the first known bird) was found. The quarries around Solnhofen were originally mined for the beautiful lithographic slate they contained, and the process of lithography was invented using this stone. Whilst digging, the quarrymen often came across the remains of a variety of different creatures perfectly preserved in the rock including small dinosaurs, crocodiles, pterosaurs, plants, sea urchins, fish.