La Brea Tarpits

The La Brea Tar Pits are the only area ever to have a major archaeological dig located inside a city. (Los Angeles) Millions of bones are pulled from the pit every year.

A few of the fossils of animals found there are: Saber-toothed Cats, Short faced bears, Ancient Camels, Mammoths, Ancient Horses, Prehistoric Bison, Giant Sloths, ancient vultures and other birds, insects and fossilized plants have also been found. However, out of literally millions and millions of bones, only 1 human skeleton has been found. And to spite what I origionally believed before visiting, there are no dinosaurs found in the La Brea tar pits, because the pits did not begin to form until after the dinosaurs went extinct.

How did all these animals end up in the tar pits? The tar pits would become covered with leaves, and mud, and grass would grow up through them until it looked just like land. Then a unlucky animal would walk

up and think the tar pits were just watering holes, and step into them. They would get stuck, and attract a predator who would attack the animal and also get stuck until it died of dehydration, or starved.

The pits have been being excavated ever since the 1940's, and are excavated every summer, when the heat makes it easier to remove the tar. They also only excavate it every summer due to funding, and the fact that a majority of the workers are students at the local college. One area that I found especially interesting, was the "Pit 91 Excavation site" where you can observe a real excavation in progress (see photo to left) you can even see exposed bones in the tar. Interesting...