La Brea Tar pits

Visited La Brea with Nani anna in Feb this year when I went there for my exams.
Strangely, this find of ancient fossils is located at the heart of the urban metropolis of LA.

Asphalt (tar), has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years, forming hundreds of sticky pools that trapped animals and plants which happened to enter. Over time, the tar fossilized the remains. The result is an incredibly rich collection of fossils dating from the last ice age.





These pits are supposed to have helped us understand a lot about the ice age animals and might still throw more surprises in future. The fossils have a reddish bronze look about them and look like beautiful sculptures of art. Couldn't help wondering how majestic all those huge mammals might have looked - especially the woolly mammoths and the saber-toothed cat.
One of the pits, is still regularly excavated for a couple of months each summer by volunteers and we got to see the work in action.