La Brea Woman

{{Infobox person

| name = La Brea Woman

| image = La Brea woman.jpg

| caption = Replica of the skull of "La Brea Woman" on display, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

| death_date = {{circa}} 8000 BC{{Cite news |date=March 1, 1999 |author=Burbank, Jon |title=Tar pits still slowly releasing victims |newspaper=The Japan Times |url= http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news108.htm |access-date=1 September 2010}} (aged {{circa}} 22)

| death_place = now Los Angeles, California, United States

| body_discovered = 1914

}}

La Brea Woman was a human whose remains were found in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. The remains, first discovered in the pits in 1914, are the partial skeleton of a woman.{{cite journal |title=Preliminary report on the discovery of human remains in an asphalt deposit at Rancho La Brea |first=J. C. |last=Merriam |author-link=J. C. Merriam |date=August 7, 1914 |journal=Science |volume=40 |number=1023 |pages=197–203|doi = 10.1126/science.40.1023.198|jstor = 1640851|pmid = 17800300|bibcode = 1914Sci....40..198M|hdl=2027/uc1.c045791729 |hdl-access=free }} At around 18–25 years of age at death, she has been dated at 10,220–10,250 years BP (Before Present).{{cite journal |title=Tar Trap: No Evidence of Domestic Dog Burial with "La Brea Woman" |last1=Fuller |first1=Benjamin T. |last2=Southon |first2=John R. |last3=Fahrni |first3=Simon M. |last4=Harris |first4=John M. |last5=Farrell |first5=Aisling B. |last6=Takeuchi |first6=Gary T. |last7=Nehlich |first7=Olaf |last8=Richards |first8=Michael P. |last9=Guiry |first9=Eric J. |last10=Taylor |first10=R. E. |journal=PaleoAmerica |date=March 9, 2016 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=56–59 |doi=10.1179/2055557115Y.0000000011|s2cid=130862425 |url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/12670802 |url-access=subscription }} These are the only human remains to have ever been discovered at the La Brea Tar Pits.{{Cite web |url=http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi02v.php |title=The La Brea Woman |website=Los Angeles Almanac}}

Archaeological study

Researchers estimate that the woman was about 18–25 years old when she died and was about 4 feet, 8–10 inches (1.5 meters) tall. Judging by her dental samples, scientists suggest she ate a diet of stone-ground meal. Her skull was fractured, which researchers infer was caused by a blow to the head, which may have killed her.

Museum display

The remains consisted of a cranium, mandible, and post-cranial remains,{{which|reason="has a head, a jaw, and some non-head parts" is… very vague|date=March 2022}} and were recovered from Pit 10 at the Rancho La Brea tar pits.{{cite report |url=http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/elsegundo/documents/applicants_files/afc_cd-rom/VOLUME%201A/5.7.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316131127/https://energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/elsegundo/documents/applicants_files/afc_cd-rom/VOLUME%201A/5.7.pdf|archive-date= 16 March 2012 |title=Technical report for power plant construction: Cultural Resources |publisher=California Energy Commission |location=Sacramento, California |date=December 2000}}

They used to be on display in the George C. Page Museum, alongside a life-sized model thought to resemble the woman, but the exhibit was removed around 2004. Curator John M. Harris was concerned that this display of historic remains might offend Native Americans or attract unwanted attention to its Native American origins, thereby triggering a demand for their return.{{cite news |url=http://articles.latimes.com/2006/aug/20/magazine/tm-labrea34/2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105092432/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/aug/20/magazine/tm-labrea34/2 |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 5, 2012 |title=L.A. Woman | work=Los Angeles Times | first=Amy | last=Wilentz | date=20 August 2006}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.laweekly.com/2010-05-27/news/sticky-situation-at-the-tar-pits/ |title=Sticky Situation at the Tar Pits |date=May 27, 2010 |first=Arnie |last=Cooper |work=LA Weekly}}{{Cite news |date=March 1, 1999 |author=Burbank, Jon |title=Tar pits still slowly releasing victims |newspaper=The Japan Times |url= http://www.trussel.com/prehist/news108.htm |access-date=1 September 2010}}{{Cite news |date=April 4, 1987|author=Murphy, William S |title=La Brea Tar Pits Facility Will Celebrate 10th Anniversary |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-04-vw-1098-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=1 September 2010}} According to some researchers, her skull shape indicates that she is ethnically Chumash. However, others claim that this suggestion is "baseless" and that there is not enough information to reliably determine this.

In 2009, California forensic artist Melissa R. Cooper created a facial reconstruction based on her skull. The images resulted in controversy regarding their display in addition to ethical questions about the museum's reason for keeping La Brea Woman in hiding.{{Cite news |date=November 24, 2009 |first=David |last=Ng |title=The skeleton that the Page Museum doesn't want you to see |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url= http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/11/the-skeleton-that-the-page-museum-doesnt-want-you-to-see.html |access-date=19 December 2013}}

Associated dog remains

Human bones were found associated with remains of a domestic dog, and so were interpreted to have been ceremonially interred.{{cite journal |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34211506#page/22/mode/1up |title=Domestic dog associated with human remains at Rancho La Brea |first=R. L. |last=Reynolds |date=1985 |journal=Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences |volume=84 |number=2 |pages=76–85}} However, in 2016, it was later determined that the dog remains were only around 3,325 years old, disproving the idea that it was ceremonially interred with her.