La Brea tar pits: saber-tooth trap in Los Angeles
Los Angeles 50,000-year-old La Brea asphalt trapped 2000 saber-tooth skulls, mammoths and dire wolves.
50,000 years of asphalt seeps in the city
About 50,000 years ago oil seeped up through cracks in Los Angeles, forming pools where 5 to 30 centimeter asphalt layers trapped thirsty animals near water.
Excavators have pulled over 3.5 million bones from 100 pits across 10 hectares, with 1 pit alone holding 1000 dire wolf skulls mixed with 2000 Smilodon remains.
2000 Smilodon skulls and a museum on site
Smilodon fatalis weighed about 280 kilograms with 20 centimeter fangs, while dire wolves weighed 70 kilograms and Columbian mammoths reached 4 meters and 9 tons in the same trap.
The Page Museum displays 600 species since 1977 beside pits that still bubble today, releasing 1 liter of methane daily and catching leaves that show 50,000 years of climate change.
- Age 50,000 years of Ice Age asphalt
- Over 2000 Smilodon skulls trapped
- 1000 dire wolves in 1 pit alone
- 3.5 million bones from 100 pits
- Page Museum open since 1977 on site