The strange stones picked up by college students on the roadside were originally ＂dinosaur eggs＂ in the late Cretaceous!
Four freshmen of Jiangxi Vocational College of Industrial Engineering found a stone containing six "stone eggs" on the mountain road not far from the school. Then they informed Pingxiang Museum of the clues, and the next morning, they led museum professionals to the scene to check. Experts identified the six "stone eggs" as dinosaur egg, and found two other dinosaur egg again at the scene.
At present, all the discovered dinosaur egg are hidden in Pingxiang Museum. According to the museum staff, it can be confirmed that these fossils belong to dinosaur egg in the late Cretaceous, and the genus and species have not yet been determined. If we can be sure that these dinosaur egg are representative or special, they may be exhibited to meet the public in the future.
Play in the forest
Pick up fossils containing six dinosaur eggs
On the evening of May 11th, four freshmen, namely Huang Chenghao, Yu Linpeng, Lan Jinxin and Zhang Gangjie, from the Mechanical Engineering College of Jiangxi Industrial Engineering Vocational and Technical College in Pingxiang, Jiangxi, met to visit the forest near the school.
"Just turned for half an hour or so, we found a reddish-brown ‘ Strange stone ’ , quite big. At first, it caught my attention because I felt that the stone was in a strange shape. When I look closely, there are six round bumps like eggs on it. " Yesterday morning, Huang Chenghao, the first person to find "stone eggs", told the Beijing Youth Daily reporter.
At that time, Lan Jinxin pointed out that there were many broken pieces on the semi-circular stone, which was a bit like an eggshell. This made Huang Chenghao suddenly remember that when he first entered school, the teacher mentioned that Pingxiang had discovered many dinosaur egg. "At that time, we took out our mobile phone and searched the pictures of dinosaur egg. We carefully compared them and thought it was very likely. We quickly called Pingxiang Museum."
Huang Chenghao told the reporter of Beiqing Daily that it was already 6 o’clock in the evening when he contacted Pingxiang Museum, and it was getting dark. "We reported the approximate location of the discovery, and no one went into the mountains that night. The stone was big and heavy, so it should be safer to put it there. So we agreed with the staff of the museum to meet at school the next morning and then take them to the scene. "
On the morning of the 12th, four people led by Huang Chenghao, three museum workers and two professionals responsible for taking out dinosaur eggs, returned to the location of the "strange stone". Ms. Wu, a staff member of Pingxiang Museum, told the reporter of Beiqing Daily that the six "stone eggs" were identified by the staff of the museum as dinosaur egg. After the appraisal, the professionals took dinosaur egg out, and the staff also conducted a survey near the discovery site, and found two other dinosaur egg.
dinosaur egg
From the late Cretaceous
"The place where these fossils were found was a waste mound near Pingxiang Economic and Technological Development Zone, and most of them were from the waste soil transported by Pingxiang Zhonghuan North Road Project. Therefore, we speculate that these dinosaur egg should be transported there with waste soil from other places. At present, the specific excavation site is still uncertain. " Ms. Wu told the reporter of Beiqing Daily, "I found a lot of ‘ Red bed ’ Soil, ‘ Red bed ’ Generally speaking, it is the Jurassic period more than 100 million years ago — Formed during the Cretaceous period, it was named because it was red. After identification, museum experts determined that these dinosaur eggs belonged to the late Cretaceous. "
"But what kind of dinosaur eggs are at present is still uncertain." Ms. Wu said that next, the museum will organize the cleaning and restoration of these dinosaur egg, and invite experts from Chinese Academy of Sciences to conduct further testing and research on dinosaur egg. "If it is determined that these dinosaur egg are representative or special, it may be exhibited in the museum in the future to meet the public."
According to Ms. Wu, since 2002, a large number of dinosaur eggs and some dinosaur bones have been found in the Cretaceous red beds in Pingxiang. In 2002, eight dinosaur egg’s dating back at least 65 million years were found in a boulder falling from a mountain in Changxi Village, Baiyuan Town, Pingxiang City. In September 2008, Pingxiang cultural relics workers found several dinosaur skeleton fossils from the residual soil of buildings. On April 15th, 2010, during the construction in the Hengban Management Office of Pingxiang Development Zone, 3 nests of dinosaur egg were found, totaling 11 pieces.
Four college students
I haven’t studied paleontology before
"It was amazing and happy to learn that it was dinosaur egg. On the one hand, I didn’t expect to pick up dinosaur eggs on the roadside. On the other hand, I felt that our judgment turned out to be correct and very fulfilling. " Huang Chenghao told the reporter of Beiqing Daily that he and three other students are from Jiangxi, majoring in new energy vehicles, and have no research on paleontology.
After leading the museum staff to take dinosaur egg away, four people never returned to the forest. "Many students came to ask us about the discovery of fossils. Everyone was envious and curious. However, we have not told other people the specific location they found, thinking that we can protect it. "
On May 13th, Pingxiang Museum sent a thank-you letter to Jiangxi Vocational and Technical College of Industrial Engineering in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province, in which four people informed the museum in time and took the initiative to lead the way to the site. At the same time, the letter urged the school to publicly praise four students. "We are also looking forward to the school giving us some rewards and expressing encouragement and recognition." Huang Chenghao said with a smile.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Li Tao Li Zhuoya