Experts have unearthed 73 fossilised dinosaur eggs on a university campus from a species that was an ancestor of today’s birds from the Cretaceous period 85 million years ago.

The discovery took place on the campus of the National University of Comahue (UNCo) in Neuquen, the capital of Neuquen Province in western Argentina.

The Museum of Natural Sciences had been carrying out monitoring processes of the land ahead of the future construction of new buildings when they came across the fossilised dinosaur eggs.

Experts pointed out that the eggs came from a protected area of the university that is considered a “unique side” in the world due to the wealth of palaeontological artefacts it contains.

Palaeontologist Juan Porfiri told local media that in the past they have found numerous snake and crocodile fossils in the area and that they believed that there was many more still to be found.

He explained that the area where the fossils were found would have been filled with dunes and semiarid climate conditions around 85 million years ago.

The experts are going to continue digging in the coming weeks as they believe they can find more artefacts. Those that have already been unearthed have been included in the museum’s collection.

It is currently unclear what specific species the eggs belong to, but the expert added: “The palaeontological site of the entire university campus is extremely important because fossil materials always appear, even many of those that have appeared are new species of crocodiles, reptiles, birds that have been the first groups of new families of dinosaurs found in the world.”