La Brea Woman

La Brea Woman is the name for the only human whose remains have ever been found in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. The remains, first discovered in the pits in 1914, were the partial skeleton of a woman dated to approximately 10,000 calendar years (~9,000 radiocarbon years) BP, who was 25 to 30 years old at death and found associated with remains of a domestic dog, and so interpreted to have been ceremonially interred.

The remains used to be on display in the George C. Page Museum, alongside a life-sized model thought to resemble the woman. The exhibit was removed around 2004. The 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.

In 2009, California forensic artist Melissa R. Cooper published a facial reconstruction based on measurements of the skull obtained while a volunteer at the museum, but the publication was not officially authorized.