"What's the use of this lump of dirt?"
"I've seen it before, but I don't know what it is, so I threw it away."
On the same day, many people gathered in Xiwang Village, Tanshan Town, Yunyang District, Hubei Province, and the "soil knots" in the villagers' mouths were not simple.
It is it, the priceless treasure - dinosaur egg fossils!
Recently, the geological engineering and technical personnel of hubei academy of geological sciences are carrying out the main excavation of newly discovered dinosaur egg fossils in Xiwang Village, Tanshan Town, Yunyang District, and on October 12, a dinosaur egg fossil point was found. At present, only one nest of dinosaur egg fossils and a small number of fragments have been found, and 30 dinosaur eggs are expected.
This is a picture that the reporter sent back from the scene.
A nest of dinosaur egg fossils was found in Tanshan Town, Yunyang District
The dinosaur egg fossils found this time were dug by villagers digging ditches behind their houses.
Dinosaur egg fossils were found behind the house in the picture below.
It is understood that the dinosaur egg discovery site Xiwang Village is more than 70 kilometers away from the Qinglong Mountain Dinosaur Egg Fossil Group National Geopark in Yunyang District, 25 miles from Lijiagou Village in Meipu Town, where dinosaur fossils were found, and 30 miles from the Meipu Town Government, which has the great potential to enrich dinosaur eggs and is an important dinosaur egg fossil production area.
According to the preliminary identification of experts, the dinosaur egg fossils in this area belong to the flat round egg class, and the diameter of a dinosaur egg fossil is about 20 cm, and the endowed strata are upper Cretaceous, dating from 100.5 million to 66 million years ago.
Li Zhengqi, senior engineer of the Provincial Academy of Geological Sciences and member of the National Paleontological Fossil Expert Committee, introduced that although China's dinosaur egg fossil resources are relatively rich, for a long time, the laws and regulations on the protection of paleontological fossils are not sound enough, and the management is lacking, resulting in a large number of precious dinosaur egg fossils being destroyed and excavated, and a large number of smuggling into the domestic and foreign markets. In addition to the origin of dinosaur egg fossils in Qinglong Mountain, Yunyang District, Shiyan, almost all dinosaur egg fossils distributed near the surface have been found in other areas, and it is difficult to find egg fossils distributed in situ.
At present, the Geological Bureau of Hubei Province has carried out the protection and investigation of dinosaur egg fossil resources here, and the follow-up protection, excavation and research work is steadily advancing.
Source: Hubei Daily
Editor: Wang Xiaobin