Building Site Yields a Trove of Fossils : Artifacts From Old Ranch Also Unearthed Near Tar Pits

The remains of several Ice Age animals, including those of an extinct antelope-like creature, and historic artifacts presumably from the Hancock Ranch household have been discovered during construction of a $12-million Japanese art pavilion near the La Brea Tar Pits, it was announced Tuesday.

Paleontologists are enthused about the discovery--the biggest in 10 years in the area--because it yielded remains of the capromeryx, an antelope-like animal, and the imperial mammoth. Discovery of the capromeryx remains is important because the small, delicate animal is believed to have been a rare inhabitant of this area, experts said.

Fossils of the mammoth, a prehistoric relative of the elephant, also have been found in two other digs near the tar pits, renowned as the world’s richest deposit of Ice Age fossils.

Clues to Life Style

What also excited officials of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was the discovery of household artifacts, among them some English pottery and portions of a gilded tea cup, from what officials said was a garbage dump apparently used by the family of Henry and John Hancock.

“With this, we’ll be able to reconstruct a bit of the life style of the Hancock family,” said George Jefferson, assistant curator of the Page Museum who was overseeing the excavation effort.

In 1860, the Hancock brothers acquired Rancho La Brea, which includes the land where the tar pits are located, and knew virtually nothing of the significant prehistoric fossils and bones that were on their property. The land was later deeded to Los Angeles County.

Evidence at the construction site suggests that some of the prehistoric remains, the first of which were unearthed last Thursday, were discovered more than 100 years ago by Spanish miners who dug for asphalt there, Jefferson said. However, the prehistoric finds were discarded as being unimportant.

Miners Didn’t Know

“They were in the way of the mining operations,” Jefferson said. “The bones were thought to be of domestic animals. They (miners) just really didn’t know.”

Some of the asphalt was used in the roofing of buildings in Olvera Street as the tiny pueblo of Los Angeles grew under Spanish and Mexican rule, local historians said.

Last week’s fossils were discovered in a pit just east of the county Museum of Art in the 5800 block of Wilshire Boulevard as workers graded the land for construction of the Pavilion for Japanese Art.

“Oh boy, bones!” was Antonia Tejada-Flores’ cry when workers hit the first find.

Up to that time, Tejada-Flores, a free-lance paleontologist, had spent what she said was a “boring” six weeks monitoring the construction site in case of an archeological discovery. It is becoming routine for construction projects near the tar pits to employ monitors because of the area’s reputation for yielding significant prehistoric fossils.

Earlier Discoveries

Last August, the jaw of a tapir, a pig-like mammal, was among 20 pounds of fossil bones uncovered at the construction of the nearby Wilshire Courtyard complex.

When additional fossils were discovered Friday, construction was halted and a squad of volunteers worked over the weekend, uncovering other remains.

So far, the remains of several rare animals, including an extinct camel, a dire wolf, saber-tooth cat and extinct bison, have been found by the volunteers.

Jefferson said the ultimate size of the latest discoveries is still undetermined, adding that volunteers will continue work for about two weeks before construction is allowed to resume.

The pavilion, expected to be completed next year, will house a Shin’enKan Collection of Edo period paintings and scrolls donated to the museum by Joe D. Price, an Oklahoma oilman.