"Dinosaur remains have been found before in Germany but this find is unique because of the variety of dinosaur species to have left traces in the same place," said Franck Tafertshufer, a local authority spokesman in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which backed the dig.

Staff at the Muenster museum found the fossils during a two-year excavation of a five-metre (16-ft) deep trench, which Lanser believes was a prehistoric watering hole.