The giant fossils, which included 19 eggs that are fully intact, were the first to be found in the city and are now being studied by experts from the Heyuan Dinosaur Museum, to determine the type, the People's Daily Online reports.
One worker even tried to flee the scene with two of the rare fossils but was stopped and eventually fled empty-handed. Passers-by then formed a human chain to protect the site until police came and the artifacts were taken away for examination.
'With the recent road and sewage system upgrade, the red sandstone layer is being exposed and has led to the discovery of the fossils’.
Nineteen of the eggs are completely intact, with the largest measuring as much as 13 centimeters (5 inches) in diameter, Huang said. Researchers said they will continue to examine the fossils to determine which dinosaur species they belong to.
Most of the eggs in the museum's existing collection belong to oviraptorid and duck-billed dinosaurs, which roamed the earth 89 million years ago. Nearly 17,000 dinosaur eggs have been uncovered in the city since the first group of fossils was found in 1996 by children playing at a construction site, the China's official news agency Xinhua reported.