Oviraptor dinosaur egg, China, Cretaceous (66 million years old), with base, length 18.5 cm

Note: This oviraptor egg, perfectly preserved in its original matrix, has not undergone any preparation. It is preserved as it was discovered.

The first dinosaur eggs were discovered in the South of France in 1859. At that time, people wondered about the creator of these eggs. It was not until the 1920s, during an expedition to Central Asia organized by the American Museum of Natural History, that the discovery of dinosaur eggs could be confirmed with certainty. Several complete egg-laying sites were discovered in the Gobi desert. Some of the clutches contained about 20 oblong eggs. Near these nest sites lay large quantities of complete small dinosaur skeletons.