The bones of thousands of prehistoric
animals that had been entrapped during the Ice Age in pools
of tar that bubbled from beneath the ground were exhumed
from this site. First historic reference to the pools, part
of the 1840 Rancho La Brea land grant, was recorded by
Gaspar de Portolá in 1769 - first scientific excavations
were made by the University of California in 1906. The site
was presented to the County of Los Angeles in 1916 by
Captain G. Allan Hancock to be developed as a scientific
monument.
For geocachers, this is the home of an
Earthcache--The
La Brea Tar Pits--and a regular cache--That
Sinking Feeling.
