Underneath Los Angeles

I know I go on and on and on about New York being the greatest city on earth, but this week I must admit that Los Angeles has some **ahem** fine qualities as well.

You're all familiar with the fabulous things that can be found beneath the sidewalks of Manhattan (and occasionally Brooklyn). But what would you discover if you were to whip out a shovel and start digging under LA? Well, let's start with a mammoth skeleton, the skull of an American lion and bones of saber-toothed cats and ground sloths.

In 2006, construction workers were beginning work on a new underground parking garage not far from the famed La Brea tar pits (shown below) when they began making incredible discoveries--including a set of 10-foot-long mammoth tusks. The location, which had long been a run-down parking lot, was the site of an ancient riverbed where countless Ice Age creatures met their end.

Paleontologists around the world must have wet their pants when they heard about the discoveries, which include everything from tiger bones to millipede fossils. Even more exciting? Who knows what could still be down there, hidden under the area's stores and streets.

Somebody bring me a plane ticket and a shovel!

Read more (and see some pictures) here and here.