Please tell me how a retroarticular process behind the mandible (more properly referred to as the dentary) is dispositive of archaeopterex's ancestral lineage. You say it. National Geographic says. I spent 5 years studying comparative vertebrate anatomy and I missed that. Please explain it slowly. It is obvious I am a slow learner.
"
Please tell me how a retroarticular process behind the mandible (more properly referred to as the dentary) is dispositive of archaeopterex's ancestral lineage. . . ."
I think you may have that backwards from the text quote of the article I posted. Let me repost just that portion:
"
. . . The Archaeopteryx skull is also typically reptilian in structure, exhibiting: a number of openings or "fenestrae" in the skull, arranged as in therapod dinosaurs and not birds; a heavy but short quadratic bone which is inclined forward as in reptiles; a bend in the jawbones behind the tooth row; a long retro-articular process, which is found in reptiles but not in birds; . . ."
I believe it was the author's clear intent in that segment to establish the archaeopteryx's reptilian ancestry as positive, not dispositive as your question implies.
I'll repost the link to that article as a "pop up" link below:
Archaeopteryx and the Creationists