What is the name of the famous fossil site in Germany that preserved Archaeopteryx?

The Solnhofen Limestone is the famous fossil site in Germany that preserved Archaeopteryx. These exceptionally fine-grained Jurassic limestone deposits occur around Solnhofen and Eichstätt in Bavaria.

During the Late Jurassic, the region consisted of shallow lagoons near the Tethys Sea. Poor circulation and oxygen-depleted bottom waters reduced scavenging, allowing delicate organisms—including feathers, wings, jellyfish, and small reptiles—to be preserved in remarkable detail. Archaeopteryx fossils from these beds became crucial evidence in the study of the dinosaur-to-bird transition.

The limestone was also prized for lithography, because its smooth, fine texture made excellent printing plates. That quarrying exposed many fossils in the nineteenth century. Solnhofen is sometimes confused with a single quarry or museum, but the name generally refers to a geological formation and fossil-bearing deposit. The formal geological name is the Altmühltal Formation.