43 fossilized dinosaur eggs were found by builders carrying out road repairs in Guangdong province.
The 43 eggs were dug up by construction workers while laying a sewage pipe in the city of Heyuan in Guangdong province. Du Yanli, a local archeologist, told Chinese media that 19 of the eggs had been found intact while the largest had a diameter of 13cm.
According to People’s Daily Online, the giant fossils, which included 19 eggs that are fully intact, were the first to be found in the city and are now being studied by experts from the Heyuan Dinosaur Museum, to determine the type.
Each egg ranges from 10 to 12 centimeters in diameter and have been well preserved by the red sandstone beds in the area. Passers-by then formed a human chain to protect the site until police came and the artifacts were taken away for examination.
Work has been temporarily halted as a 1.3 square kilometer dinosaur fossil and geological protected zone is set up in the area for further scientific research.
There are fossilized dinosaur eggs everywhere in the red sandstone layer but they were never found because the city was built on top of the layers. With the recent road and sewage system upgrade, the red sandstone layer is being exposed and has led to the discovery of the fossils,” said head curator, Du Yanli.
The Heyuan Dinosaur Museum said that more than seventeen thousand fossilized dinosaur eggs have been found in China since the first discovery in 1996. The museum prides itself for having the largest fossilized dinosaur eggs collection in the world and was placed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Heyuan has now dubbed itself as China’s “Home of Dinosaurs”.
