An extinct species of porpoise discovered in California is revealing what paleontologists call “bizarre” features that have been seen in fish and birds but never before in mammals. Namely, the…
Read More
California
History of Ancient Los Angeles Was Driven by Its Wetlands, 8,000-Year Survey Finds
It may be hard to visualize if you’ve been through drought-stricken southern California lately, but much of what’s now Los Angeles was once a teeming wetland. And a new landmark…
Read More
Four-Tusked Walrus, New Whale and 19 Other Fossil Mammals Discovered at California Surf Spot
Ten years after a surfer first tipped him off to some bones eroding out of a sandy bank, a paleontologist says he has uncovered a massive cache of marine mammal…
Read More
Ancient California Islanders Relied on Drifting ‘Tarballs’ for Petroleum, Study Finds
Eight thousand years ago, as today, one thing you needed to get by in southern California was petroleum. But even then, it seems, you didn’t need the top-grade stuff shipped…
Read More
11,000-Year-Old Seafaring Indian Sites Discovered on California Island
Just offshore from the chock-a-block development of Southern California, archaeologists have discovered some of the oldest sites of human occupation on the Pacific Coast. On Santa Rosa Island, one of…
Read More
Fossil of Huge Aquatic Mammal, a ‘New Paradox,’ Discovered in Southern California
When it swam the seas that covered California some 10 million years ago, it might have looked something like a slender hippo — but with longer legs, broad webbed feet,…
Read More
Mass Grave of ‘Prodigal Sons’ in California Poses Prehistoric Mystery
New research has turned up some perplexing clues in a prehistoric mystery: the fate of three men found in a mass grave in California, their bodies riddled with arrow points…
Read More
Ancient Californians Revered — And Likely Ate — Dogs, Canine Graves Reveal
In California’s long, rich prehistoric record, among the most intriguing legacies that archaeologists have discovered is the tradition of burying canines — sometimes with humans, sometimes with garbage, sometimes in…
Read More
Giant Ice-Age ‘Longhorn Bison’ Unearthed in San Diego
Highway workers have unearthed the fossilized bones of an unusual giant bison in a suburb of San Diego, the first such discovery in Southern California. The fossil may date back…
Read More
