Story Topics | La Brea Tar Pits

Solving a Juniper Seed Mystery at La Brea Tar Pits

How identifying a mysterious fossil seed reveals Ice Age climate change

A paleoart rendition of Eupachydiscus sp. by Cullen Townsend.

Research and Collections

Collections Staff Help Ammonites Come Out of Their Shells

Uncovering how digitization and collections management made a groundbreaking extinction study come to life

Launch pad for the Ariane 6 for Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana

Research and Collections

Spaceport Fossils from French Guiana

How one small step for a spaceport in French Guiana led to a giant leap for Pleistocene fossils

Bloomberg Connects Header Image depicting the screen of a guide user

Digital Guide to La Brea Tar Pits

Explore La Brea Tar Pits—including the new Mark Dion exhibit Excavations—as well as over 160 international museums, galleries, sculpture parks, gardens, and cultural spaces on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.

Extinction and Survival at La Brea Tar Pits

Groundbreaking new research from La Brea Tar Pits curators finds that in California, 13,000 years ago, huge Ice Age mammals that had roamed the landscape for many millennia, suddenly ceased to exist. The cause? Humans, catastrophic fires, and an ecosystem made vulnerable by climate change.

Playing With Fire: Extinction and Survival at La Brea Tar Pits

In California, 13,000 years ago, huge Ice Age mammals that had roamed the landscape for many millennia, suddenly ceased to exist. The cause? Humans, catastrophic fires, and an ecosystem made vulnerable by climate change.