A day at the seaside ended with an archaeological discovery when beach-goers from Fangcheng stumbled upon dinosaur fossils on the Jiangshan peninsula in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Archeologists with the Guangxi Natural Museum said this was the first time that dinosaur fossils of the Jurassic period (145 million and 208 million years ago) had been found on the southern coast of China.
Before that, many dinosaur fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period (135 million and 60 million years ago) had been excavated in the region's inland areas including Fusui and Chongzuo counties.
According to Mo Jinyou, expert of the museum, fossils found by local citizens were just limbs and centrums of dinosaurs.
Given the large area of Jurassic stratum here, scientists believed more findings could be expected.
However, no timetables for further excavation have been given because the excavation work would be difficult as the site is often submerged by the tide.
(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2002)
