La Brea Tar Pits

Until 11,000 years ago, the Los Angeles landscape was roamed by creatures including Columbian mammoths, sabre-toothed cats and mastodons. The area that is now known as Hancock Park was once an ancient jungle of exotic mammals and plants, many of which are now extinct, until now. A few well preserved specimens have been carefully preserved in the area’s cluster of tar pits.

The sticky tar like liquid that seeps up from the ground is the perfect preservative for many of the ancient animals, birds and insects that once roamed these lands. Bones, teeth, shells and insect exoskeletons are just a few of the artifacts extracted from the pits.

There are over 100 bubbling pools of tar across Hancock Park and they are some the most important sources of knowledge about prehistoric life and Ice Age activity. To prevent visitors meeting the same fate as the animals who fell into the pits, they are fenced off. However, there are viewing stations and vantage points around the area at regular intervals.

For more than a century, scientists and prehistoric experts have been excavating the area and pulling out bones and various artifacts from the viscous black mass. The most interesting and revealing finds are on display at the Page Museum, a prehistoric haven that provides visitors with a fascinating insight into Pleistocene and Ice Age California.

With over a million fossils from 650 different species, the museum is a fount of knowledge and pioneering archaeological discovery. Exhibits include skeletons of mammoths, sloths, wolves and sabre-toothed cats. Such excavations are a regular occurrence and the museum’s stock of fossils and artifacts is constantly expanding. However, there is more to this museum than simply bones. There are many interactive activities that will engage and capture the imagination of visitors of all ages, including a Fishbowl Lab that allows you to watch scientists as they clean, identify, tag and put fossil pieces together.

Located approximately 11 kilometres west of downtown on Wilshire Boulevard, the museum is open daily except for major holidays. Paid parking can be found on the corner of Sixth Street and Curson Avenue.