Fossils Under Our Feet at the County Museum

On Fathers’ Day, Sunday, June 15, San Bernardino County Museum Curator of Paleontology Eric Scott will discuss Ice Age fossils from urban southern California. The 2 p.m. presentation at the County Museum in Redlands is included with paid museum admission. “Saying ‘Ice Ages’ conjures images of glaciers, ice fields, and herds of woolly mammoths huddling against raging blizzards,” said Scott. “Those scenarios are engaging, but they don’t accurately portray what our region was like during glacial times.” During the Pleistocene Epoch—the “Ice Ages”—southern California summers were cooler and year-round temperatures were more moderate. Snow and ice were present for most of the year in local mountains. “We had streams and lake in the valleys, fed by mountain ice, which provided lots of sustenance for plants and animals in the valleys. The evidence of these ancient organisms lies right beneath your feet,” said Scott. In his lecture, Scott will talk about Pleistocene fossils from throughout southern California, with special emphasis on the Rancho La Brea “tar pits” in Los Angeles. He will also examine more local sites such as Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet, California, where County Museum paleontologists working from 1993 through early 2000 excavated one of the richest non-asphaltic Ice Age sites anywhere in the American southwest. Don't miss it!