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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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LA Unearths Mammoth Fossil Stash

Giant cache of Ice Age fossils unearthed from under city park

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(Newser) – Workers digging up an underground Los Angeles parking garage have unearthed the biggest cache of fossils from the last Ice Age ever discovered, including a nearly intact mammoth skeleton, reports the Los Angeles Times. Researchers have lifted huge chunks of earth from the site adjacent to the La Brea tar pits, and believe the find will give the most complete picture yet of Pleistocene life.

"I knew we would find fossils, but I never expected to find so many deposits," said a salvage archaeologist overseeing the dig. "There was an absolutely remarkable quantity and quality."

A nearly intact skeleton of a mammoth has been found under Los Angeles' Hancock Park.
A nearly intact skeleton of a mammoth has been found under Los Angeles' Hancock Park.   (Shutter Stock)
The head of a Colombian mammoth is seen. Researchers say the mammoth just uncovered from under an LA garage, which has been nicknamed 'Zed,' is the first complete one found in the area.
The head of a Colombian mammoth is seen. Researchers say the mammoth just uncovered from under an LA garage, which has been nicknamed 'Zed,' is the first complete one found in the area.   (Shutter Stock)
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This gives us the opportunity to get a detailed picture of what life was like 10,000 to 40,000 years ago. - John Harris, chief curator at the Page Museum

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