If what the researchers around team leader Elisabete Malafaia suspect is confirmed, then they would have to dig for quite a while longer.
The vertebrae and ribs of the dinosaur alone, which have been uncovered by geologists from the University of Lisbon in the small Portuguese town of Pombal, are record-breaking in terms of their size and their state of preservation.
Accordingly, it could be the fossilized remains of the largest dinosaur ever found on European soil.
Possibly even the largest in the world.
The geologist Malafaia assumes that it is a sauropod from the group of Brachiosauridae, which lived on Earth in the Upper Jurassic about 150 million years ago.
The animals with their giraffe-like necks fed exclusively on plants.
Malafaia estimates that this dinosaur must have been about 12 meters high and 25 meters long.
"It is very unusual for all of an animal's ribs to be found in this shape, let alone in a position where they retain their original anatomical location," the scientist is quoted as saying.
Due to the location, it is very likely that other parts of the skeleton will be discovered at the site.
A man came across the bones five years ago when he was digging up his garden because he wanted to expand his house.
He contacted the paleontologists at the Faculty of Science in Lisbon, who now announced the sensation.
Studies at the site confirmed that the Pombal region has a significant fossil record of Late Jurassic vertebrates, says Malafaia.
Remains have been found in the area time and time again over the past few decades.
They could now help to understand life on the Iberian Peninsula 150 million years ago.
Further investigations should reveal which dinosaurs are involved, such as Brachiosaurus, Abydosaurus or Cedarosaurus.
Only then will it become clear whether it really is the largest of its kind.