Eight fossilized dinosaur eggs, which were discovered in Yunxian
County of central China's
Hubei
Province, have been confirmed by archaeologists to belong to the
late Cretaceous period, dating back more than 60 million years.
The eggs were all found at the same place in January and March this
year by farmer Li Shangwei, who lives in Baimagou Village, Yunxian
County.
Two of the eight eggs are oval and intact, 18 cm long, 10 cm high
and seven cm thick. The eggshells are 0.2 cm thick.
Li
Tianyuan and Li Taoyuan, both research fellows with the Hubei
Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, believed the eight
eggs belong to the late Cretaceous period.
Archaeologists discovered dinosaur egg fossils on Mount Qinglong in
Liubei Town of Yunxian County in March 1995, and fossilized
dinosaur skeletons at Lijiagou Village of Meipu Town in the same
county in July 1997.
Baimagou Village, where the eight dinosaur eggs were discovered, is
less than 100 kilometers away from Mount Qinglong and some 20
kilometers from Lijiagou Village.
Archaeologists have discovered dinosaur fossils at 11 separate
sites in Yunxian County, making it the only county in the world
where both fossilized dinosaur eggs and skeletons have been
found.
Experts say that the newly-discovered dinosaur eggs are differently
shaped from those found on Mount Qinglong and belong to a different
species.
They say the eight dinosaur eggs are important in the study of
Yunxian as a "land of dinosaurs" and in the study of the ecology of
the ancient environment.
( May 6, 2002)