Discoveries Made DailySee What We Dug Up in Our Own Backyard

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  Rodent tooth Location: Project 23 Deposit 1 Easily recognizable as a tiny molar under the microscope, this tooth belongs to a deer mouse. These small animals survived the last Ice Age extinction and still live locally in non-urban areas.
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  Lizard jaw Location: Project 23 Deposit 1 This tiny jaw of a spiny lizard, less than a quarter inch long, was found when cleaning a saber-toothed cat vertebra in the Fishbowl Laboratory. Microfossils like this are commonly found in the matrix surrounding larger fossil bones.
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  Beetle head with eyes Location: Project 23 Deposit 1 Parts of insects found at Rancho La Brea often preserve their color and delicate features such as compound eyes.
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  Juniper cone Location: Project 23 Deposit 11 Well over one hundred thousand plant fossils have been recovered from Rancho La Brea. Some are from plants that lived in the immediate area, and some were transported here by floodwaters or streams.
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  Vole jaw Location: Project 23 Deposit 14 Voles, often called meadow mice or field mice, are common throughout America today and are small rodents with short-tails and short-ears. Fossil voles from California lived as far back as 1.2 million years ago.
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  Oak leaves Location: Project 23 Deposit 1 This is a section of a large mat of oak leaves recovered from Project 23. Leaves like this may, when fully studied, provide information about environmental conditions in late Pleistocene times.