page_title: La Brea Tar Pits
section_title: George C. Page Museum
hierarchical_section_title: La Brea Tar Pits / Scientific resource / George C. Page Museum
caption_attribution_description: George C. Page Museum — fossil and natural history museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles, California. Located on Wilshire Boulevard next to LACMA in Hancock Park (the city park), a part of "Museum Row."
context_page_description: La Brea Tar Pits are a group of tar pits around which Hancock Park was formed in urban Los Angeles. Natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. The tar is often covered with dust, leaves, or water. Over many centuries, the tar preserved the bones of trapped animals. The George C. Page Museum is dedicated to researching the tar pits and displaying specimens from the animals that died there. La Brea Tar Pits is a registered National Natural Landmark.
context_section_description: The George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, part of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, was built next to the tar pits in Hancock Park on Wilshire Boulevard. Construction began in 1975, and the museum opened to the public in 1977.
  However, the history of the fossil museum began in 1913, when George Allan Hancock, the owner of Rancho La Brea, granted the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County exclusive excavation rights at the Tar Pits for two years. In those two years, the museum was able to extract 750,000 specimens at 96 sites, guaranteeing that a large collection of fossils would remain consolidated and available to the community. Then in 1924, Hancock donated 23 acres to LA County with the stipulation that the county provide for the preservation of the park and the exhibition of fossils found there.
  The museum tells the story of the tar pits and presents specimens excavated from them. Visitors can walk around the park and see the tar pits.  On the grounds of the park are life-sized models of prehistoric animals in or near the tar pits.  Of more than 100 pits, only Pit 91 is still regularly excavated by researchers and can be seen at the Pit 91 viewing station. In addition to Pit 91, the one other ongoing excavation is called "Project 23". Paleontologists supervise and direct the work of volunteers at both sites.
caption: The La Brea Tar Pits Museum in Hancock Park
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