The bird-dinosaur In southern Germany, 140,000,000 years ago, countless sea lilies were imbedded in fine lime-muds between drowned coral reefs on the floor of a moderately deep sea. However, the most famous fossils from these strata are five specimens of archaeopteryx, generally considered to be the oldest known bird, and certainly the focus of continuing debate. Archaeopteryx was small, with a wingspan of 0.5 m and weighed about 325 g. Its feathers were similar to those of flying birds, but its skeleton closely resembled that of a small carnivorous dinosaur. The brain was relatively large for an animal of that epoch. Was archaeopteryx a feathered dinosaur, an ancestral bird, or neither, or both? They lived during the late Jurassic period, 140 million years ago. 16"(40cm) x 20"(50cm) Oil on canvas. Original available for $ 300.00 Framed for $360.00