Somehow in the midst of trying to say “yes” more this year I agreed to go to the La Brea Tar Pits museum here in LA.
“What the hell is a tar pit?” I thought.
Not really my cup of tea, but new friends call for learning and exploring the new and unfamiliar.
I’m more inclined to art and people related galleries and museums, but ice-aged fossils from 10,000 to 40,000 year old asphalt deposits are cool too…I guess.
The scoop:
A world of paleontology.
Natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground in this particular area of LA for thousands of years. It was found that the tar, which often was covered by dust or water, preserved the bones of animals like saber-toothed cats, wolves, and mammoths who wandered (and essentially got trapped) there.
The pits were made visible on the property by human excavation. The museum showcases the tar pits and the specimens that have been extracted from them. You can walk around the grounds and see the pits they’ve preserved. They have life-size representations of the animals you would’ve seen prehistorically.
They currently have one main excavation project running, Project 23, which started back in 2009. Large fossil remains from bison, horses, sloth, and an american lion were discovered. Researchers continue to work on these deposits on site.
I appreciate science, I learned something new, but still not my cup of tea for a $12 (student discount) admission fee. #bars
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