The Solnhofen is a famous area in Germany containing fossils from the Upper Jurassic era. Solnhofen was made famous by the discovery of Archaeopteryx. The fine-grained limestone makes it an excellent building material, which has led to heavy quarrying of the area over the past two centuries- during this process, spectacular fossils have been unearthed, including this fossilized Dragonfly. Complete dragonflies are rare finds.

This area was an ancient archipelago at the edge of a now long-gone sea. Due to the high salt content, the lowest levels in the water column was largely devoid of oxygen and could not support much life- these were the perfect conditions for fossil preservation.