Chinese palaeontologists have finished excavating a 180-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton from the Jurassic period that was nearly complete and very well-preserved, and are entering into the stage of restoration and research.

The fossilised dinosaur was discovered in the city of Lufeng in the province of Yunnan in southern China in late May.

The fossil, which represents 70 percent of the complete dinosaur, dates back 180 million years which coincides with the Jurassic period.

Jurassic is a geological period that took place between 201.3 million to 145 million years ago.

The pictures show the incredible discovery by Chinese palaeontologists who believe the dinosaur was eight metres (26 feet) long and between 3.5 metres and 4 metres in height.

The director of the Dinosaur Fossil Conservation and Research Centre, Wang Tao, said that, based on previous discoveries and after studying the tail and thigh bones, “this could be a type of giant Lufengosaurus that lived during the Early Jurassic period”.

The Dinosaur Fossil Conservation and Research Centre carried out emergency excavations as the fossil was found in an area that experiences soil erosion and could endanger the conservation of any remaining bones.

The dinosaur lived on the edges of the lakes and swamps around Lufeng at the time, and it is believed it may have got trapped in a boggy area and ended up being buried there for millions of years.

Scientists said the next stage of work is to compare the fossils with previously found dinosaurs to establish whether it was a known species or a new one.

Finding fossils that are as complete as this one in Lufeng is a very rare occurrence in palaeontology, according to local sources.

In 1938, Lufeng was the site of the first dinosaur fossils unearthed in China and over 100 different fossils have been found there since, totalling 25 genera and 38 species.