RonnieAdventure #0345 - La Brea Tar Pits, Las Angeles, Califorina

The first recorded visit to the La Brea Tar Pits was by Spanish Explorer Gaspar de Portola in 1769. However, the Chumash and Tongva people living in the area had been using tar from the pits to seal their boats and houses for many years prior to the arrival of the Spanish explorers.  

The tar pits are a result of crude oil that has been seeping from what is now known as the 6th Street Fault for tens of thousands of years. When the lighter fractions of the petroleum evaporate, it leaves tar, which will eventually become very hard. It is during the evaporation process when leaves, dirt, and water cover the crude oil that animals walked onto the surface and became trapped in the sticky tar. As other predators came to feast on the dead animal carcasses, they also became trapped. Thus, bones-atop-bones are found in the pits. 

Between 1913 and 1915, about 100 pits were excavated on the site and produced over 750,000 specimens of Dire Wolves, Saber-Toothed Cats, mammoths, Short-Faced Bears, bison, horses, giant ground sloths, turtles, snails, clams, millipedes, fish, gophers, and an American Lion. Dire Wolves and Saber-Tooth Cats are the most common skeletons and the bones are often found in groups, which has been attributed to wolves and large cats hunting in packs. One human skeleton of a woman between 17 and 25 years of age has also been found, along with a domestic dog, dated to be approximately 10,000 years old. 

Photographer Unknown

Photographer Unknown

Photographer Unknown

There is no fee to walk around the park and view the various pits that are still visible and fenced so that someone does not accidentally fall into a pit and get stuck. Pit 91 is the only pit that is still being excavated; however, "Project 23" contains 23 large crates of material that have yet to be processed in the lab. 

Oil and methane gas bubbles can still be seen seeping through vents that lead into the pits. 

The museum contains exhibits and movies that explain how animals became trapped in the tar pits and there are many displays of skeletons that were excavated over the years. It is easy to recognize skeletons that were excavated from the La Brea Tar Pits because over a period of time asphalt soaked into the bones and turned the bones a dark brown color.  

Extinct Western Horse (Equus occidentalis)

Short-Faced Bear (Arctodus simus)

Saber-Toothed Cat (Smilodon fatalis)

Dire Wolf (Canis dirus)

American Mastodon (Mammut americanum)

Extinct Camel (Camelops hesternus)

Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi)

Antique Bison (Bison antiquus)

Harlan's Ground Sloth (Paramylodon harlani)

Glass windows provide visitors a view of the pathology lab where specimens are being prepared for display. 

The museum also contains a large atrium where you can sit and meditate in peaceful surroundings, which is needed after driving in Las Angeles traffic to reach the La Brea Tar Pits.