About Rancho La Brea | Natural History Museum of Los Angeles
Tarpits.org Just Emerged from the Ice Age
Check out the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits’ new website, www.tarpits.org! Videos, photography, interactive components, downloadable resources and more!
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About Rancho La Brea
Rancho La Brea (colloquially known as the La Brea Tar Pits) is one of the world's most famous fossil localities, recognized for having the largest and most diverse assemblage of extinct Ice Age plants and animals in the world. The fossiliferous asphalt seeps are located in the heart of Los Angeles' Miracle Mile, in the southwest corner of what was once the Mexican land grant of Rancho La Brea.
The Rancho La Brea collections are housed on-site at the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits in Hancock Park. The collections document the Rancho La Brea biota and include some 3.5 million specimens representing over 600 species of animals and plants. Site-specific collections also include geological samples, archeological artifacts, historical objects, a library, an archive, and collections of correspondence and other ephemera related to the locality.