La Brea Tar Pits and Hancock Park | La Brea Tar Pits
Source: https://tarpits.org/experience-tar-pits/la-brea-tar-pits-and-hancock-park
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:14
La Brea Tar Pits and Hancock Park | La Brea Tar Pits
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La Brea Tar Pits and Hancock Park
La Brea Tar Pits and Hancock Park
Visit the only Ice Age fossil site in the world that's being actively excavated in the middle of a city!
What are the Tar Pits?
The Tar Pits have fascinated scientists and visitors for over a century, and today, this area is the only actively excavated Ice Age fossil site found in an urban location in the world! Over the last 50,000 years, Ice Age animals, plants, and insects were trapped in sticky asphalt, which preserved them for us to find today. More than 100 excavations have been made at the Tar Pits since the early 1900s, and most of the fossils discovered here are housed in the museum at La Brea Tar Pits, at the center of the Tar Pits! The discoveries range in size from huge, extinct mammoths and sloths to "microfossils," or tiny remains of plants and animals that give us clues about how ancient ecosystems and climates changed.
Lake Pit
The iconic Lake Pit, located in front of the museum, is actually a pit left over from asphalt mining operations in the late 1800s. Rain and groundwater has collected above the bubbling asphalt, creating a small lake. The lake’s bubbles, sheet, and distinctive odor come from a deep underground oil field. Here you can see a recreation of a mammoth becoming trapped in “tar.”
Enjoying Hancock Park
Hancock Park is nestled among the museum and the Tar Pits. It's a fun community resource where boot camp participants meet and train, kids play next to super-sized Ice Age mammals, and Angelenos and tourists stroll and picnic. Walk through the paths that wind around active excavation sites, the iconic Lake Pit with its mammoth and mastodon models, and the Pleistocene Garden!
Creek dogwood (
Cornus sericea
)
This wide-spreading shrub loses its leaves in autumn, revealing the colorful red stems. Some Native Americans use them to make baskets. The creamy white flowers attract insects and the white to blue-tinged fruits attract birds.
California buckwheat (
Eriogonum fasciculatum
)
The most widespread shrubby buckwheat in California, this species has needle-like, evergreen leaves and masses of creamy white flowers in summer that provide nectar for butterflies and other beneficial insects. They turn rusty brown in fall and the seeds are eaten by birds.
White sage (
Salvia apiana
)
This striking shrub has highly aromatic leaves that, when dried, can be burned as incense. Bees make a flavorful honey from the showy white flowers. In the garden, the large leaves and tall flower stalks add drama to a dry garden.
Saltbush or Quail bush (
Atriplex lentiformis
)
Saltbush is a versatile shrub. Plants tolerate salt spray and dry summers. The salty, tender young leaves can be used either fresh or steamed as seasoning. Birds and small mammals eat the nutritious seeds and use the dense branches for cover.
Sanford's arrowhead (
Sagittaria sanfordii
)
This aquatic herb is now considered rare because much of its natural habitat has been destroyed. The showy white flowers typically bloom throughout the summer.
Western elderberry (
Sambucus nigra
subsp.
caerulea
)
This common, fast-growing shrub or small tree occurs throughout much of California and is an important food source for wildlife. Its creamy white flowers and frosted blue berries are both edible, but all other plant parts are poisonous. Native Americans made hunting bows and flutes from the stems.
Purple sage (
Salvia leucophylla
)
The pinkish purple flowers of this beautiful, fragrant shrub are pollinated by hummingbirds and butterflies. Other birds such as quail eat the seeds. Upright and mounding forms occur in nature and both are useful ornamentals for sunny, summer-dry gardens.
Arroyo willow (
Salix lasiolepis
)
Arroyo willow is just one of several kinds of willows native to California. The supple branches are used in basket weaving and furniture making. Salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin, comes from the bark of willow trees.
California sycamore (
Platanus racemosa
)
The mottled white-and-gray bark stands out in winter when this fast-growing tree is leafless. Bats and Monarch butterflies were known to use massive older trees as roosting sites. Chumash Indians fashioned beautiful, functional bowls from the wood.
St. Catherine’s lace (
Eriogonum giganteum
)
Of the more than 125 species of buckwheat native to California, this is by far the largest. Prized by gardeners for its silvery-gray leaves and massive inflorescence, it is valuable as wildlife habitat, too, offering food for insects, birds, and mammals.
Oregon grape (
Berberis aquifolium
)
The fragrant yellow flowers in spring, powdery blue berries in autumn, and shiny evergreen leaves provide year-round interest. The bitter berries make tasty jelly or sauce when cooked. Share them with the birds. The roots yield a yellow dye.
1
of
1
Creek dogwood (
Cornus sericea
)
This wide-spreading shrub loses its leaves in autumn, revealing the colorful red stems. Some Native Americans use them to make baskets. The creamy white flowers attract insects and the white to blue-tinged fruits attract birds.
California buckwheat (
Eriogonum fasciculatum
)
The most widespread shrubby buckwheat in California, this species has needle-like, evergreen leaves and masses of creamy white flowers in summer that provide nectar for butterflies and other beneficial insects. They turn rusty brown in fall and the seeds are eaten by birds.
White sage (
Salvia apiana
)
This striking shrub has highly aromatic leaves that, when dried, can be burned as incense. Bees make a flavorful honey from the showy white flowers. In the garden, the large leaves and tall flower stalks add drama to a dry garden.
Saltbush or Quail bush (
Atriplex lentiformis
)
Saltbush is a versatile shrub. Plants tolerate salt spray and dry summers. The salty, tender young leaves can be used either fresh or steamed as seasoning. Birds and small mammals eat the nutritious seeds and use the dense branches for cover.
Sanford's arrowhead (
Sagittaria sanfordii
)
This aquatic herb is now considered rare because much of its natural habitat has been destroyed. The showy white flowers typically bloom throughout the summer.
Western elderberry (
Sambucus nigra
subsp.
caerulea
)
This common, fast-growing shrub or small tree occurs throughout much of California and is an important food source for wildlife. Its creamy white flowers and frosted blue berries are both edible, but all other plant parts are poisonous. Native Americans made hunting bows and flutes from the stems.
Purple sage (
Salvia leucophylla
)
The pinkish purple flowers of this beautiful, fragrant shrub are pollinated by hummingbirds and butterflies. Other birds such as quail eat the seeds. Upright and mounding forms occur in nature and both are useful ornamentals for sunny, summer-dry gardens.
Arroyo willow (
Salix lasiolepis
)
Arroyo willow is just one of several kinds of willows native to California. The supple branches are used in basket weaving and furniture making. Salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin, comes from the bark of willow trees.
California sycamore (
Platanus racemosa
)
The mottled white-and-gray bark stands out in winter when this fast-growing tree is leafless. Bats and Monarch butterflies were known to use massive older trees as roosting sites. Chumash Indians fashioned beautiful, functional bowls from the wood.
St. Catherine’s lace (
Eriogonum giganteum
)
Of the more than 125 species of buckwheat native to California, this is by far the largest. Prized by gardeners for its silvery-gray leaves and massive inflorescence, it is valuable as wildlife habitat, too, offering food for insects, birds, and mammals.
Oregon grape (
Berberis aquifolium
)
The fragrant yellow flowers in spring, powdery blue berries in autumn, and shiny evergreen leaves provide year-round interest. The bitter berries make tasty jelly or sauce when cooked. Share them with the birds. The roots yield a yellow dye.
Plants from the Ice Age
Long before palm trees lined its busy streets, Los Angeles was an oasis of pine, sage, and buckwheat. Our scientists have recreated this prehistoric landscape with the Pleistocene Garden, representing the
native vegetation of the Los Angeles Basin 10,000 to 40,000 years ago
. Based on 35 years of research gathered from Pit 91 fossil excavation, the garden is divided into four ecological systems: Coastal Sage, Riparian, Mixed Evergreen/Redwood Forest, and Chaparral. Step back into L.A.'s original landscape, take in the fragrances, and escape the hustle and bustle of Wilshire.
La Brea Tar Pits FAQs
Ever wonder why there is “tar” bubbling to the surface, how animals became trapped, and what’s going on at the Tar Pits today?
Over 100 fossil quarries, commonly called "pits," have been excavated since the turn of the 20th century. The term "pit" was applied to excavations made by the Los Angeles County Museum between July 1913 and September 1915. More than fifty of these excavations were completely unproductive and only about a dozen yielded prolific fossil remains. Five fenced areas scattered throughout Hancock Park include the Lake Pit (a remnant of commercial asphalt mining, which also contains Pits 17, 50, and the Academy Pit) and Pits 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, 61, 67, and 91.
No. The black gooey substance bubbling to the surface is actually asphalt. That this heavy, viscous substance is commonly called tar is misleading. Asphalt is the lowest grade of crude oil, and it can be found seeping to the surface throughout the Tar Pits park.
A large petroleum reservoir called the Salt Lake Oil Field is located below the surface a short distance to the north of Hancock Park. The oil was formed from marine plankton deposited in an ocean basin during the Miocene Epoch (5-25 million years ago). Over time, pressure converted the organisms into oil. The petroleum has been migrating to the surface, either along a faulted sedimentary zone or along steeply dipping, porous sedimentary rock layers. During the last 50,000 years it has trapped and preserved animals and plants that lived in the surrounding area.
The bubbles seen in the Lake Pit and at the excavation sites are composed mostly of methane, commonly called natural gas. Methane is a colorless and odorless gas that is used in gas-burning home appliances (the gas company adds an odor for safety reasons). Methane is produced by natural fractionation of the hydrocarbons in crude oil but is also a by-product of micro-organisms that live in the crude oil. The "rotten egg" odor is hydrogen sulfide, another by-product of hydrocarbon fractionation.
Yes. You can visit our two active excavation sites within the Park, Project 23, a large salvage excavation that could double the size of our collections, and Pit 91, where you can look down into the pit to see the work being done.
The extinct animals discovered at La Brea Tar Pits were trapped in the asphalt between 11,000 to 50,000 years ago. They may have lived in the Los Angeles region for much of the last 100,000 years. Before that time the Los Angeles Basin was covered by the Pacific Ocean.
Asphalt is very sticky, particularly when it is warm. Small mammals, birds, and insects inadvertently coming into contact with it would be immobilized as if trapped like flies on flypaper. The feet and legs of heavier animals might sink a few inches below the surface. Depending on the time of day or year, strong and healthy animals might have managed to escape, but others would have been held fast until they died of exhaustion, or fell prey to passing predators. A single, mired large herbivore might attract the attention of a dozen predatory birds and mammals, some of which would in turn become trapped and provide more food for other carnivores.
Dire wolves are the most common large mammals from La Brea Tar Pits, with about 4,000 individuals represented in its collections. The remains of over 2,000 individual saber-toothed cats rank second and coyotes rank third.
No, you won’t find any dinosaurs here (except for birds, their living descendants). Dinosaurs had been extinct for 66 million years before animals and plants began to be trapped at La Brea Tar Pits. Actually, Los Angeles was under the ocean during the time of the dinosaurs.
Since 1906, more than one million bones have been recovered, representing over 231 species of vertebrates. In addition, 159 species of plants and 234 species of invertebrates have been identified. It is estimated that the collections at La Brea Tar Pits contain about three million items. When completed, Project 23—our current excavation—may double this number.
We bring the fossils inside the museum where you can watch our scientists study them in our Fossil Lab. They are then catalogued and put into our collections where scientists from around the world can study them further. Guests can also see fossils on display throughout the museum.
It is an unfortunate and distressing situation when wildlife becomes entrapped in the natural asphalt seeps at La Brea Tar Pits. Thankfully this does not happen very often, but this is a process that has been occurring here for over 60,000 years. Rescuing animals from the Lake Pit is difficult and dangerous and best left to those with specialized training. We will reach out to Los Angeles Animal Control or other agencies when necessary. Learn more about the
prehistoric animals
that have become entrapped at the Tar Pits.
Excavations
Discover how our scientists are excavating fossils right before your eyes!
Start digging
Skip to main content
La Brea Tar Pits and Hancock Park
La Brea Tar Pits and Hancock Park
Visit the only Ice Age fossil site in the world that's being actively excavated in the middle of a city!
What are the Tar Pits?
The Tar Pits have fascinated scientists and visitors for over a century, and today, this area is the only actively excavated Ice Age fossil site found in an urban location in the world! Over the last 50,000 years, Ice Age animals, plants, and insects were trapped in sticky asphalt, which preserved them for us to find today. More than 100 excavations have been made at the Tar Pits since the early 1900s, and most of the fossils discovered here are housed in the museum at La Brea Tar Pits, at the center of the Tar Pits! The discoveries range in size from huge, extinct mammoths and sloths to "microfossils," or tiny remains of plants and animals that give us clues about how ancient ecosystems and climates changed.
Lake Pit
The iconic Lake Pit, located in front of the museum, is actually a pit left over from asphalt mining operations in the late 1800s. Rain and groundwater has collected above the bubbling asphalt, creating a small lake. The lake’s bubbles, sheet, and distinctive odor come from a deep underground oil field. Here you can see a recreation of a mammoth becoming trapped in “tar.”
Enjoying Hancock Park
Hancock Park is nestled among the museum and the Tar Pits. It's a fun community resource where boot camp participants meet and train, kids play next to super-sized Ice Age mammals, and Angelenos and tourists stroll and picnic. Walk through the paths that wind around active excavation sites, the iconic Lake Pit with its mammoth and mastodon models, and the Pleistocene Garden!
Creek dogwood (
Cornus sericea
)
This wide-spreading shrub loses its leaves in autumn, revealing the colorful red stems. Some Native Americans use them to make baskets. The creamy white flowers attract insects and the white to blue-tinged fruits attract birds.
California buckwheat (
Eriogonum fasciculatum
)
The most widespread shrubby buckwheat in California, this species has needle-like, evergreen leaves and masses of creamy white flowers in summer that provide nectar for butterflies and other beneficial insects. They turn rusty brown in fall and the seeds are eaten by birds.
White sage (
Salvia apiana
)
This striking shrub has highly aromatic leaves that, when dried, can be burned as incense. Bees make a flavorful honey from the showy white flowers. In the garden, the large leaves and tall flower stalks add drama to a dry garden.
Saltbush or Quail bush (
Atriplex lentiformis
)
Saltbush is a versatile shrub. Plants tolerate salt spray and dry summers. The salty, tender young leaves can be used either fresh or steamed as seasoning. Birds and small mammals eat the nutritious seeds and use the dense branches for cover.
Sanford's arrowhead (
Sagittaria sanfordii
)
This aquatic herb is now considered rare because much of its natural habitat has been destroyed. The showy white flowers typically bloom throughout the summer.
Western elderberry (
Sambucus nigra
subsp.
caerulea
)
This common, fast-growing shrub or small tree occurs throughout much of California and is an important food source for wildlife. Its creamy white flowers and frosted blue berries are both edible, but all other plant parts are poisonous. Native Americans made hunting bows and flutes from the stems.
Purple sage (
Salvia leucophylla
)
The pinkish purple flowers of this beautiful, fragrant shrub are pollinated by hummingbirds and butterflies. Other birds such as quail eat the seeds. Upright and mounding forms occur in nature and both are useful ornamentals for sunny, summer-dry gardens.
Arroyo willow (
Salix lasiolepis
)
Arroyo willow is just one of several kinds of willows native to California. The supple branches are used in basket weaving and furniture making. Salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin, comes from the bark of willow trees.
California sycamore (
Platanus racemosa
)
The mottled white-and-gray bark stands out in winter when this fast-growing tree is leafless. Bats and Monarch butterflies were known to use massive older trees as roosting sites. Chumash Indians fashioned beautiful, functional bowls from the wood.
St. Catherine’s lace (
Eriogonum giganteum
)
Of the more than 125 species of buckwheat native to California, this is by far the largest. Prized by gardeners for its silvery-gray leaves and massive inflorescence, it is valuable as wildlife habitat, too, offering food for insects, birds, and mammals.
Oregon grape (
Berberis aquifolium
)
The fragrant yellow flowers in spring, powdery blue berries in autumn, and shiny evergreen leaves provide year-round interest. The bitter berries make tasty jelly or sauce when cooked. Share them with the birds. The roots yield a yellow dye.
1
of
1
Creek dogwood (
Cornus sericea
)
This wide-spreading shrub loses its leaves in autumn, revealing the colorful red stems. Some Native Americans use them to make baskets. The creamy white flowers attract insects and the white to blue-tinged fruits attract birds.
California buckwheat (
Eriogonum fasciculatum
)
The most widespread shrubby buckwheat in California, this species has needle-like, evergreen leaves and masses of creamy white flowers in summer that provide nectar for butterflies and other beneficial insects. They turn rusty brown in fall and the seeds are eaten by birds.
White sage (
Salvia apiana
)
This striking shrub has highly aromatic leaves that, when dried, can be burned as incense. Bees make a flavorful honey from the showy white flowers. In the garden, the large leaves and tall flower stalks add drama to a dry garden.
Saltbush or Quail bush (
Atriplex lentiformis
)
Saltbush is a versatile shrub. Plants tolerate salt spray and dry summers. The salty, tender young leaves can be used either fresh or steamed as seasoning. Birds and small mammals eat the nutritious seeds and use the dense branches for cover.
Sanford's arrowhead (
Sagittaria sanfordii
)
This aquatic herb is now considered rare because much of its natural habitat has been destroyed. The showy white flowers typically bloom throughout the summer.
Western elderberry (
Sambucus nigra
subsp.
caerulea
)
This common, fast-growing shrub or small tree occurs throughout much of California and is an important food source for wildlife. Its creamy white flowers and frosted blue berries are both edible, but all other plant parts are poisonous. Native Americans made hunting bows and flutes from the stems.
Purple sage (
Salvia leucophylla
)
The pinkish purple flowers of this beautiful, fragrant shrub are pollinated by hummingbirds and butterflies. Other birds such as quail eat the seeds. Upright and mounding forms occur in nature and both are useful ornamentals for sunny, summer-dry gardens.
Arroyo willow (
Salix lasiolepis
)
Arroyo willow is just one of several kinds of willows native to California. The supple branches are used in basket weaving and furniture making. Salicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin, comes from the bark of willow trees.
California sycamore (
Platanus racemosa
)
The mottled white-and-gray bark stands out in winter when this fast-growing tree is leafless. Bats and Monarch butterflies were known to use massive older trees as roosting sites. Chumash Indians fashioned beautiful, functional bowls from the wood.
St. Catherine’s lace (
Eriogonum giganteum
)
Of the more than 125 species of buckwheat native to California, this is by far the largest. Prized by gardeners for its silvery-gray leaves and massive inflorescence, it is valuable as wildlife habitat, too, offering food for insects, birds, and mammals.
Oregon grape (
Berberis aquifolium
)
The fragrant yellow flowers in spring, powdery blue berries in autumn, and shiny evergreen leaves provide year-round interest. The bitter berries make tasty jelly or sauce when cooked. Share them with the birds. The roots yield a yellow dye.
Plants from the Ice Age
Long before palm trees lined its busy streets, Los Angeles was an oasis of pine, sage, and buckwheat. Our scientists have recreated this prehistoric landscape with the Pleistocene Garden, representing the
native vegetation of the Los Angeles Basin 10,000 to 40,000 years ago
. Based on 35 years of research gathered from Pit 91 fossil excavation, the garden is divided into four ecological systems: Coastal Sage, Riparian, Mixed Evergreen/Redwood Forest, and Chaparral. Step back into L.A.'s original landscape, take in the fragrances, and escape the hustle and bustle of Wilshire.
La Brea Tar Pits FAQs
Ever wonder why there is “tar” bubbling to the surface, how animals became trapped, and what’s going on at the Tar Pits today?
Over 100 fossil quarries, commonly called "pits," have been excavated since the turn of the 20th century. The term "pit" was applied to excavations made by the Los Angeles County Museum between July 1913 and September 1915. More than fifty of these excavations were completely unproductive and only about a dozen yielded prolific fossil remains. Five fenced areas scattered throughout Hancock Park include the Lake Pit (a remnant of commercial asphalt mining, which also contains Pits 17, 50, and the Academy Pit) and Pits 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, 61, 67, and 91.
No. The black gooey substance bubbling to the surface is actually asphalt. That this heavy, viscous substance is commonly called tar is misleading. Asphalt is the lowest grade of crude oil, and it can be found seeping to the surface throughout the Tar Pits park.
A large petroleum reservoir called the Salt Lake Oil Field is located below the surface a short distance to the north of Hancock Park. The oil was formed from marine plankton deposited in an ocean basin during the Miocene Epoch (5-25 million years ago). Over time, pressure converted the organisms into oil. The petroleum has been migrating to the surface, either along a faulted sedimentary zone or along steeply dipping, porous sedimentary rock layers. During the last 50,000 years it has trapped and preserved animals and plants that lived in the surrounding area.
The bubbles seen in the Lake Pit and at the excavation sites are composed mostly of methane, commonly called natural gas. Methane is a colorless and odorless gas that is used in gas-burning home appliances (the gas company adds an odor for safety reasons). Methane is produced by natural fractionation of the hydrocarbons in crude oil but is also a by-product of micro-organisms that live in the crude oil. The "rotten egg" odor is hydrogen sulfide, another by-product of hydrocarbon fractionation.
Yes. You can visit our two active excavation sites within the Park, Project 23, a large salvage excavation that could double the size of our collections, and Pit 91, where you can look down into the pit to see the work being done.
The extinct animals discovered at La Brea Tar Pits were trapped in the asphalt between 11,000 to 50,000 years ago. They may have lived in the Los Angeles region for much of the last 100,000 years. Before that time the Los Angeles Basin was covered by the Pacific Ocean.
Asphalt is very sticky, particularly when it is warm. Small mammals, birds, and insects inadvertently coming into contact with it would be immobilized as if trapped like flies on flypaper. The feet and legs of heavier animals might sink a few inches below the surface. Depending on the time of day or year, strong and healthy animals might have managed to escape, but others would have been held fast until they died of exhaustion, or fell prey to passing predators. A single, mired large herbivore might attract the attention of a dozen predatory birds and mammals, some of which would in turn become trapped and provide more food for other carnivores.
Dire wolves are the most common large mammals from La Brea Tar Pits, with about 4,000 individuals represented in its collections. The remains of over 2,000 individual saber-toothed cats rank second and coyotes rank third.
No, you won’t find any dinosaurs here (except for birds, their living descendants). Dinosaurs had been extinct for 66 million years before animals and plants began to be trapped at La Brea Tar Pits. Actually, Los Angeles was under the ocean during the time of the dinosaurs.
Since 1906, more than one million bones have been recovered, representing over 231 species of vertebrates. In addition, 159 species of plants and 234 species of invertebrates have been identified. It is estimated that the collections at La Brea Tar Pits contain about three million items. When completed, Project 23—our current excavation—may double this number.
We bring the fossils inside the museum where you can watch our scientists study them in our Fossil Lab. They are then catalogued and put into our collections where scientists from around the world can study them further. Guests can also see fossils on display throughout the museum.
It is an unfortunate and distressing situation when wildlife becomes entrapped in the natural asphalt seeps at La Brea Tar Pits. Thankfully this does not happen very often, but this is a process that has been occurring here for over 60,000 years. Rescuing animals from the Lake Pit is difficult and dangerous and best left to those with specialized training. We will reach out to Los Angeles Animal Control or other agencies when necessary. Learn more about the
prehistoric animals
that have become entrapped at the Tar Pits.
Excavations
Discover how our scientists are excavating fossils right before your eyes!
Start digging