La Brea Tar Pits - Further Information

Further Information

Brea is Spanish for "tar." The "tar" pits were used as a source of asphalt (for use as low-grade fuel and for waterproofing and insulation) by early settlers of the Los Angeles area. The original Rancho La Brea land grant stipulated that the tar pits be open to the public for the use of the local Pueblo. Initially, they mistook the bones in the pits for the remains of pronghorn antelope or cattle that had become mired.

Rancho La Brea is the most famous, but two other asphalt pits have fossils in southern California: the Carpinteria Tar Pits in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County and the McKittrick Tar Pits in McKittrick, in Kern County. Other asphalt deposits in Texas, Peru, Trinidad, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and Poland also bear fossils.

For other rich deposits, fossilized where they occurred, see Lagerstätten.