For tens of thousands of years, humongous animals got stuck in the asphalt at the site known today as the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits.
But only for the past century have their remains been dug up.
Of the 5.5 million fossils pulled from the black goo since 1913, scientists have discovered mastodons, mammoths, saber-toothed cats, American camels, giant ground sloths, dire wolves, short-faced bears, North American lions and more.
This urban source of Ice Age paleontological discovery is being celebrated Monday with free admission to the Page Museum in celebration of its centennial together with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The aqueduct plans to celebrate its anniversary Nov. 5-6 with the commemorative exhibition “Artworks Inspired by the L.A. Aqueduct by Rob Reynolds” and two days of free admission, plus a commemorative small battle of water, just as it was done 100 years ago.
Visitors who take part in the free day at the Page Museum, meanwhile, can observe paleontologists work on new finds in the Fishbowl Lab, catch a noontime performance of Ice Age Encounters’ life-sized saber-toothed cat puppet, take a guided tour of the park at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and see fossils poking out of the tar at the Pit 91 Viewing Station.