BE ADVISED: The museum's parking lot will be closed to guests from Friday, November 1 to Friday, November 15 in preparation for the PST Art + Science Family Festival. Please plan your visit accordingly. For questions or directions, please call 213.763.3466 or email info@nhm.org.

Pack rat skeleton drawn in white on a black background with lines connecting artist names in white to different parts of the skeleton

Mark Dion: Excavations

Exhibition opens September 15, 2024

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Special Experiences

Explore the sites, collections, and programs that bring the Ice Age to life.

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lake pit at la brea tar pits

Lake Pit

Photo of paleontologist excavating fossils

Our Excavations

dire wolf wall at the tar pits

Dire Wolf Wall

Analisa Rivera, a UCLA senior, examining microfossils in the Fossil Lab.

Fossil Lab

Photo of saber tooth cat teeth in the fossil lab

Ice Age Fossils

Ice Age Encounters Show

Ice Age Encounters

Dr. Regan Dunn in Pit 91 at La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits Curator Talks Climate

In this episode of LA Countyology, discover how plant fossils extracted from the La Brea Tar Pits can help us understand our climate future.

Watch now

Stories

Okay, now I'm curious
Illustration of a gray dire wolf in profile

Sink your teeth into five juicy morsels of info about the dire wolf

Go wild
Two pedestrian paths bring people above the Lake Pit, a site for urban fiction and imagination.
Reimagine
La Brea Tar Pits

Reimagine the future of La Brea Tar Pits and explore the transformation, the process, and keep up-to-date on the latest developments.

Imagine what's next

What are you interested in learning about at the Tar Pits?

Icon of a saber-toothed cat to represent cats
Cats
Icon of a globe and thermometer to represent climate change
Climate Change
Icon of binoculars to represent discoveries
Discoveries
Icon of a woolly mammoth head to represent mammoths
Mammoths
Icon of a shovel to represent digs
Excavations