Numerous Pleistocene localities exist throughout North America.

The most famous is the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, which was discovered accidently while workers were mining asphalt.

Charles Knight painted this reconstruction of a tar pit as it might have appeared 40,000 years ago. In this detail, saber-tooth cats confront a giant ground sloth, while mastodons feed in the open savannah in the background.