Jiayin's fossil-bearing riverbanks helped establish northeast China's place in dinosaur research. One later discovery can be followed particularly closely: in 1990, researchers from Changchun College of Geology, now part of Jilin University, and Heilongjiang Provincial Museum excavated a duck-billed dinosaur skeleton in Jiayin. The university describes the mounted skeleton as six metres high and eleven metres long, with about 70 percent original bone. A large display begins with individual bones recovered from a particular layer of ground.
From the journal
Cretaceous Life at Jiayin: Fossils on the Amur
Jiayin became known through an early discovery of duck-billed dinosaur fossils in 1902. Later excavations and research have identified a wider range of Late Cretaceous animals, making the county a place where paleontology, preservation and public education meet.
In the same city · Yichun, Heilongjiang ↗A skeleton from a river county
From excavation to a scientific name
Detailed study of that skeleton's skull and other bones in 1999–2000 led researchers to recognize a new genus and species, Charonosaurus jiayinensis. Its name links a scientific description to the county where the material was found. The work involved Chinese researchers and Pascal Godefroit of Belgium's Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Discovery and identification happened at different times: excavation brought the bones to light; comparison of their anatomy established their scientific significance.
The layers around the bones
Research also follows the rock around the fossils. In 2023, an international field visit examined sites at Wuyun Xiaoheyan, Taiping Forest Farm and Yong'an Village. The county's report describes work on the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary and on plant, animal and footprint fossils. Jiayin's story therefore reaches beyond one skeleton: layers of sediment preserve evidence of changing life and environments near the end of the dinosaur age. Local museum displays make parts of that long record accessible beyond the field sites.