Excavations

Exhibitions

Ichthyosaur

New Discoveries

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Exhibition | Tar Pits

Fossil Lab

What happens after the fossils at La Brea Tar Pits are excavated? This is where you find out.

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Exhibition | Tar Pits

3D Theater

Travel back in time with Titans of the Ice Age.

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Events

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Fri

26

Apr

Photo of paleontologist excavating fossils

Tar Pits

Excavator Tour

Tours & Shows All Ages

1 pm

The Excavator Tour explores the Fossil Lab where real paleontologists work, our historic excavation sites, and Project 23, where live excavations can be seen. Monday through Friday at 1 pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 am and 1 pm, and an additional holiday tour March 25–29 at 10:30 am. Schedule subject to change.

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Fri

26

Apr

A man holds a saber-toothed cat skull with jaw agape, a father and son observe excitedly

Tar Pits

Discoveries From<br/>the Tar Pits

Talks All Ages

3:30 pm

Drop by to learn some of the lesser known stories of the Tar Pits, including active research and recent discoveries. Topics change daily.

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Sat

27

Apr

Tar Pits

Excavator Tour

Tours & Shows All Ages

10:30 am
1 pm

The Excavator Tour explores the Fossil Lab where real paleontologists work, our historic excavation sites, and Project 23, where live excavations can be seen. Monday through Friday at 1 pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 am and 1 pm, and an additional holiday tour March 25–29 at 10:30 am. Schedule subject to change.

Learn more

Sat

27

Apr

Tar Pits

Discoveries From<br/>the Tar Pits

Talks All Ages

3:30 pm

Drop by to learn some of the lesser known stories of the Tar Pits, including active research and recent discoveries. Topics change daily.

Learn more

Sun

28

Apr

Tar Pits

Excavator Tour

Tours & Shows All Ages

10:30 am
1 pm

The Excavator Tour explores the Fossil Lab where real paleontologists work, our historic excavation sites, and Project 23, where live excavations can be seen. Monday through Friday at 1 pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 am and 1 pm, and an additional holiday tour March 25–29 at 10:30 am. Schedule subject to change.

Learn more

Stories

Launch pad for the Ariane 6 for Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana

Spaceport Fossils from French Guiana

How one small step for a spaceport in French Guiana led to a giant leap for Pleistocene fossils

La Brea Tar Pits National Natural Landmark

A Landmark Anniversary for La Brea Tar Pits

Mark the 60th anniversary of La Brea Tar Pits' designation as a National Natural Landmark with some vintage photography.

The Lincoln Heights Whale skull being moved by staff on pallets outside the Museum

The Migration of the Lincoln Heights Whale

As modern whales make their annual journey across the ocean, discover one whale’s 10 million-year journey through time from Flat Top Hill to L.A. Underwater

Bloomberg Connects Header Image depicting the screen of a guide user

Digital Guide to La Brea Tar Pits

Explore La Brea Tar Pits and over 160 international museums, galleries, sculpture parks, gardens, and cultural spaces on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.

Jurassic Perks

How Jurassic Park helped spark a boom in new dinosaur discoveries

Playing With Fire: Extinction and Survival at La Brea Tar Pits

In California, 13,000 years ago, huge Ice Age mammals that had roamed the landscape for many millennia, suddenly ceased to exist. The cause? Humans, catastrophic fires, and an ecosystem made vulnerable by climate change.

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Dr. Alyssa Bell working on an excavation site

Members Q&A with Dr. Alyssa Bell

Join Dr. Alyssa Bell on this special Members Q&A for Dino Fest at Home!

Photo of a dire wolf bone being cleaned at

Members Q&A with LBTP Lab Manager Stephany Potze and Assistant Curator Dr. Regan Dunn

Asphalt is dirty business, but scientists at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum have spent over 100 years learning how to excavate, clean and conserve the multitude of fossil specimens plucked from the tar at Hancock Park.

Members Q&A with Dr. Nathan Smith

You're in for a T-rrific time in this Members Q&A with Dr. Nathan Smith, NHMLAC's Associate Curator of Dino Institute.

Dino Fest Resources Guide

Dino Fest 2023 art featuring Coelophysis

Dino Fest Resources Guide

News & Press

A Lighthouse in the Gobi Desert

A new study quantifies the impact of the world’s great fossil sites on our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups and discovers the key to understanding lizard evolutionary history in the Gobi Desert.

The new species is one of the earliest ancestor of modern dolphins yet discovered

Eating bamboo? It's all in the wrist.

An ancient fossil reveals the earliest panda to survive solely on bamboo and the evolutionary history of panda's false thumbs

Earth’s First Giant

The two-meter skull of a humongous new ichthyosaur species, Earth’s first known giant creature, reveals how both the extinct marine reptiles and modern whales became giants