Some bones are on display at a museum in Henan province

These bones have been dug up, then boiled in soup or ground down to make traditional medicines for decades.

The news emerged this week when scientists displayed some excavated bones at a museum in Henan Province.

"[People] believed that the 'dragon bones' were from dragons flying in the sky," one Chinese scientist told AP news agency.

These 'dragon bones', found in Henan's Ruyang County, were sold for about 4 yuan (50 cents) per kilogram.

"Local people used the bones as medicine to treat conditions such as dizziness and leg cramps," said Zhang Xinliao from Henan Geology Museum.

They were also made into a paste and applied to fractures and other injuries.

Scientists said villagers had been using dinosaur bones for years

"Some locals even made a business out of collecting the bones. One had collected up to 8,000 kg," Mr Zhang added.

Bones displayed this week at the museum were from an 18m-long plant-eating dinosaur.

These dinosaurs are 85 to 100 million years old.

Scientists have spent the last two years unearthing and cleaning the bones, which belonged to Asia's heaviest dinosaur.

Mr Zhang said the museum planned to put them together and display them later this year.