A dinosaur fossil unearthed in 2021 at the construction site of the front road of a high-speed railway construction project in Dongxing City has completed the first stage of restoration after a one-month restoration by technicians from the museum of Hebei University of Geosciences.

Technicians from the museum of Hebei University of Geosciences repair dinosaur fossils in Dongxing.

Technicians from the museum of Hebei University of Geosciences repair dinosaur fossils in Dongxing.

On February 3rd, the reporter came to the Dongxing Dinosaur Fossil Herbarium and saw that the dinosaur fossils collected in the room were arranged neatly, each fossil was numbered in detail, and the restored dinosaur fossils showed clear skeletal Outlines. It is known that in 2021, 363 dinosaur fossils have been excavated during the construction of the front road of Dongxing high-speed railway construction Project. At present, experts have repaired the cervical vertebra, dorsal vertebra, tail vertebra, neck rib, femur and other skeletal fossils, which are preliminatively determined to be sauropod dinosaur fossils.

Every dinosaur fossil is numbered

Every dinosaur fossil is numbered

Zeng Chunjun, director of the technology department of the Museum of Hebei University of Geosciences, who participated in the restoration work, said that before the Spring Festival, they carried out restoration work on the missing dinosaur fossils, mold making, mold turning, and scaffolding, and the progress was relatively smooth. For now, the restoration work has been suspended, pending the next discovery of new dinosaur fossils.

A restored dinosaur fossil.

A restored dinosaur fossil.

The reporter saw in the dinosaur fossil excavation site, the site set up a enclosure protective awning, to protect the exposed dinosaur footprints fossil specimens. Remarkably, five dinosaur footprints, about the size of a human hand, are spaced out on a boulder. According to the staff, the footprint fossils and bones they found are different kinds of dinosaur fossils, and the expert study determined that they were theropod dinosaur footprint fossils. It is understood that the footprint remains fossil and bone solid fossil are formed by dinosaurs in different nature and buried environment. It is often difficult to have two fossils in the same formation on a smaller scale. The simultaneous discovery of two fossils at the same site in Dongxing is rare among dinosaur fossil excavations in China and has important research value.

Dinosaur footprints are clearly visible on a boulder

Dinosaur footprints are clearly visible on a boulder