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Just a short drive from B.H. 90210.
La Brea Tar Pits - Columbian Mammoths (Extinct)
Tar Bubble
Hancock Park is in urban Los Angeles, located at Wilshire and Fairfax. Mr. Hancock, gifted some of the acreage to the City of Los Angeles for the development preservation of a historical and ancient exhibit of paleontological discoveries.
La Brea tar pits was gifted by George “Captain” Hancock, a California petroleum industry pioneer, who recognized the scientific importance of the fossils found in the asphaltic deposits. In 1883 he inherited the 3,000-acre Rancho La Brea that included the La Brea tar pits. Over time animal bones were found when digging for oil at them. In 1924 when George Allan Hancock donated 23 acres of the Rancho La Brea Hancock Ranch to the County of Los Angeles, it came with the stipulation that the park be preserved and the fossils properly exhibited.
The La Brea Tar Pits is an active paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; brea in Spanish) has seeped up from the ground for tens of thousands of years. Over many centuries, the bones of trapped animals have been preserved
Asphalt mined from the Tar Pits was used to pave L.A.’s streets, and excavations have been underway for more than one hundred years. Researchers are still uncovering the areas ancient history
Tar Pits researchers discovered it was filled with microfossils like insect legs, fish scales, and tiny pieces of extinct plants. Studying these microfossils helps tell the broader story of L.A.’s Ice Age environment. Each site provides an evolving story of paleontology. skeletons of mammoths, giant sloths and saber tooth cats come to mind when we think of the Tar Pits.
The partial skeleton of a woman was discovered in 1914 now known as the La Brea Woman. She was around 18–25 years of age at death, she has been dated at 10,220–10,250 years BP (Before Present). These are the only human remains to have ever been discovered at the La Brea Tar Pits. Judging by her dental samples, scientists suggest she ate a diet of stone-ground meal. Her skull was fractured, which researchers suggest were caused by a blow to the head, which may have killed her?
