Photos: Volunteering to do the dirty work -- it’s the pits

Volunteer Judith Sydner-Gordon, from left, preparator Sean Campbell and volunteer Barbara Hill work on exposing fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits.

Volunteer Judith Sydner-Gordon, from left, preparator Sean Campbell and volunteer Barbara Hill work on exposing fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

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Volunteers are an invaluable asset to the small staff operating out of the Page Museum, which houses and displays the La Brea Tar Pits’ treasures.

Volunteering at the tar pits

Volunteer Dixie Swift uses a microscope to isolate bone material, plant material, insects and shells from sediment, on the fossil of a western pond turtle. The turtle is believed to be between 10,000 to 40,000 years old.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteering at the tar pits

Volunteer Jack Schwellenbach holds the skull of “Cletus,” a saber-toothed cat, inside the fossil lab in the Page Museum. The skull is believed to be between 10,000 and 40,000 years old.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteering at the tar pits

Volunteer coordinator Shelley Cox categorizes parts of an adult bison, dated to 42,000 years ago. In the foreground is a replica of the lower jaw of a full-grown Columbian mammoth.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteering at the tar pits

Volunteer Dixie Swift works in the fossil lab at the Page Museum.

  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteering at the tar pits

Volunteer Dixie Swift cleans a piece of shell from a western pond turtle.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteering at the tar pits

Volunteer Jack Schwellenbach displays the skull of “Cletus,” a saber-toothed cat nicknamed for a hillbilly character because of his snaggly teeth.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Volunteering at the tar pits

Volunteers work inside the fossil lab of the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits. In the foreground is part of the skull of a full-grown Columbian mammoth.

  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)