* Astronomy

History of Ancient Los Angeles Was Driven by Its Wetlands, 8,000-Year Survey Finds

It may be hard to visualize if youve been through drought-stricken southern California lately, but much of whats now Los Angeles was once a teeming wetland. And a new landmark survey going back 8,000 years has found that human settlement in the region has ebbed and flowed with the levels of the sea and the waters of the Los Angeles River.
Since 1989, a team of scientists has conducted scores of archaeological surveys, drilled dozens of cores into the coastal soil, and pored over countless microscopic fossils to reconstruct the environmental and human history of Los Angeles.
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