(iib) A second creationist objection to Archaeopteryx is that the fossils are fakes. Sir Fred Hoyle, the astronomer who first made this accusation, argued that the fossils were actually reptile fossils with feather impressions either pressed into a thin layer of artificial cement, or chiseled directly into the rock. However, a team of scientists disproved Hoyle's claims by performing a battery of tests on the holotype of Archaeopteryx (Charig et al. 1986). First, they found absolutely no evidence of artificial cement on the fossils: a photographic comparison of the hairline cracks running through the impressions on the slab and counterslab revealed a perfect correspondence between the two sets, demonstrating that "the block was cracked though vertically before it was split horizontally into two slabs, thus indicating the unquestionable absence of any added cement layer on either surface" (Charig et al. 1986:624). Detailed examination of the feather impressions through scanning electron microscopy revealed "a degree of minute detail that [the scientists believed] would be impossible to carve, even today [written in 1986], and a total absence of any chisel marks" (Charig et al. 1986:624). So thoroughly discredited is the claim of the fraudulence of Archaeopteryx that the young-earth creationist organization Answers in Genesis has declared it an argument that "should definitely not be used" by creationists.

(iic) A third creationist objection to Archaeopteryx is that it cannot count as an intermediate since there are modern birds that have some reptilian characteristics. However, in the first place, Archaeopteryx has far more reptilian characteristics than any of the birds offered as examples by creationists. It is a telling point that, as we have seen, when Sir Fred Hoyle erroneously claimed that Archaeopteryx was a forgery, he claimed that it was a reptile fossil with fake feather impressions added. Secondly, and more importantly, Archaeopteryx is not considered a transitional form simply because of its remarkable blend of reptilian and avian characteristics, but because of its resemblance to the theropod reptiles that existed at the same time.

(iid) A final creationist objection to Archaeopteryx is that it cannot be a transitional form because it is preceeded by Protoavis. However, in the first place, Protoavis is still in dispute because the discoverer has not released the fossils for public inspection. Second, even if Protoavis is authentic, this does not eliminate the transitional character of Archaeopteryx: Archaeopteryx still has the intermediate characteristics it does, even if there are more advanced transitional lineages somewhat earlier in the fossil record. Finally, even the discoverer uses Protoavis to support the thesis that birds evolved from theropod reptiles, which is the same thesis that Archaeopteryx supports.