Trapped in the Tar Pit: How Paleontologists Unearthed a City’s Prehistoric Past

Thousands of years ago, an earthquake caused buried tar to rise to the surface, where ancient animals became trapped. In the early twentieth century, people exploring the tar pit found bones as they dug deeper. Scientists determined that the bones were preserved fossils of extinct animals. Set in Los Angeles, the book traces the history of this prehistoric animal graveyard from the tar pit’s formation to the discovery and study of its fossils.