Miracle Mile in Los Angeles in Los Angeles County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
How did these different types of fossils end up in a tar pit together?
Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, November 24, 2025
1. How did these different types of fossils end up in a tar pit together? Marker
For thousands of years, crude oil has been naturally rising up to the surface here forming shallow puddles of sticky goo called asphalt seeps.
Tar pits are created by excavating ancient asphalt seeps. We find thousands of fossils preserved in these pits.
A sloth (1) trying to eat acorns from this valley oak tree (2) wandered too close to the seep and became stuck in the sticky asphalt.
Saber-toothed cats (3) and dire wolves (4) looking for an easy meal tried to attack the trapped sloth but ended up getting stuck in the asphalt themselves.
This tetratorn (5) hoped to feed on the trapped animals once they got tired and died.
Over time, these plants and animals were covered with dirt and mud. Their soft parts like fur and feathers decomposed. But the asphalt soaked into their wood and bones, preserving the hard parts for thousands of years underground until we dug them up.
(1) Shasta ground sloth
(2) Valley oka
(3) Saber-toothed cats
(4) Dire wolves
(5) Tetratorn
(6) Ancient bison
(7) Raccoon
(8) Columbian mammoths
(9) American lion
(10) Dwarf pronghorn
While Earth was much colder 25,000 years ago, not every place was covered by ice and glaciers. Based on our fossil data, we think that ancient Los Angeles was only a little
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Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Animals • Environment • Paleontology.
Location. 34° 3.814′ N, 118° 21.367′ W. Marker is in Los Angeles, California, in Los Angeles County. It is in Miracle Mile. It can be reached from Wilshire Boulevard, on the left when traveling east. The marker is located in Hancock Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 5800 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90036, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in California’s Transverse Ranges. It is also on the American Pacific Coast. Globally, it is in North America, on the Ring of Fire, in the Pacific Rim, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain and also Mexicos Alta California.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Rancho La Brea - National Natural Landmark (within shouting distance of this marker); Chester Stock Ph.D. (within shouting distance of this marker); La Brea Tar Pits (within shouting distance of this marker); Hancock Park (within shouting distance of this marker); Imagining Ice Age L.A. (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); When Mammoths Walked on Wilshire (about 300 feet away); Pits 3, 4, 61/67 (about 300 feet away); Tar seeps form Ice Age time capsules (about 300 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Los Angeles.
Photographed by Darren Jefferson Clay, November 24, 2025
2. How did these different types of fossils end up in a tar pit together? Marker
Credits. This page was last revised on January 26, 2026. It was originally submitted on January 4, 2026, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. This page has been viewed 56 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 20, 2026, by Darren Jefferson Clay of Duluth, Georgia. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
