Songsan-myeon, Hwaseong City is one of the world’s three best-known sites of dinosaur egg fossils and fossils of hundreds of dinosaur eggs were found there. The site designated as Natural Monument No. 414 was discovered in 1999, while the surveys were conducted to assess the ecosystem and geological features of the reclaimed area nearby Sihwa Lake. More than 300 fossils of dinosaur eggs found in Hwaseong City are estimated to be around 110 million years old. Since most of the dinosaur egg fossils had been found in China and Mongolia, the discovery in South Korea has drawn keen attention from paleontologists from around the world. The site which was listed as a Natural Monument in 2010 has been preserved as a giant natural wetland.
Later, the fossils of a horned-dinosaur species were discovered on the Jeongok Port breakwater, 17 km from the site of dinosaur egg fossils in Hwaseong City. It is the only dinosaur fossil with horns ever found in the world. It was named “Koreaceratops Hwaseongensis”, meaning a Korean horned dinosaur species discovered in Hwaseong, S. Korea. The discovery was particularly interesting, because not only fragments of bones but also a complete skeleton was discovered intact. Koreaceratops has been listed as a new ceratopsian dinosaur species for its distinctive characteristics.
Most fossils are found in underground strata. Interestingly, the fossils of Koreaceratops were first found on top of a breakwater. Since the rocks used to build the breakwater were carried from somewhere else, the fossils were likely imbedded within the rocks. In this sense, it was extremely fortunate to make this discovery. The existence of Koreaceratops Hwaseongensis in itself is impressive enough, but the way in which the discovery was made is even more interesting.