La Brea << luh BRAY uh >> tar pits are one of the world’s richest known sources of ice age fossils. The most recent ice age ended about 11,500 years ago, marking the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (see Pleistocene Epoch). The fossils lie in Hancock Park in Los Angeles. Beginning in 1906, when the remains of a giant prehistoric bear were found, more than 1 million well-preserved skeletons of saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, llamas, camels, horses, giant ground sloths, and other ancient animals have been dug from the various layers of oil and tar. These animals became trapped when they came to drink from the shallow pool that covered the sticky asphalt bog. Some Native Americans of the area used the pitch to cover baskets and canoes. Spanish settlers waterproofed adobe houses with it. A museum at the site displays skeletons from the pits.
