In the organizer's words:
A good 20 years ago, the museum's geoscientific preparator, Thomas Bechmann, discovered a fossil site the likes of which had never been seen before in Upper Franconia: thin limestone slabs, known as Plattenkalke, with an unusual wealth of fossils. Today, Wattendorf is rightly regarded as one of the most interesting fossil deposits in Germany.
The Wattendorf slab limestones are a spatially limited deposit, which also only extends to a few layered areas within a huge quarry. The rocks are paleontologically outstanding due to their wealth of fossils, which is considerably greater than that of the typical Solnhofen limestones from the Altmühltal. In addition to land plants, invertebrates such as snails, mussels, crabs etc., a large number of different fish have been recovered. These included several angel sharks of up to over one meter in length. Even more spectacular, however, are the coelacanths, one of which is probably the largest and best-preserved specimen ever discovered in Jurassic limestones. But that's not all: the vertebrates are also represented by several complete turtles, snake dinosaurs, impressive crocodile remains and even a complete pterosaur! The preservation of the fossils is also exceptionally good, often even soft parts such as scales or tissue remains are still recognizable.
The Wattendorf limestones were deposited around 154 million years ago in the late Jurassic period in a tropical shallow sea. The rocks are therefore somewhat older than all other southern German limestone deposits. As a result, there are many new, previously undescribed species among the Wattendorf fossils, which are particularly exciting to study. In addition, many of the finds have a very special aesthetic. Many skeletons look as if they have been frozen in time.
The permanent exhibition on the Wattendorf fossils presents the best finds from two decades and at the same time provides information on the exciting geological and biological background of the Jurassic period.
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