The content and exercises on this site drew on the many scientific papers and popular articles written about the McKittrick site since fossils were first found there. If you want to learn more about the site and fossils, these articles are the primary data. Links are provided for those available online for free.
Written for general audiences
Merriam, J. C., and C. Stock. 1921. Occurrence of Pleistocene vertebrates in an asphalt deposit near McKittrick, California. Science 54:566–567. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/54/1406/566.long
Sternberg, C. H. 1985. The Pleistocene Fossil Bed at McKittrick, California; pp. 214–221 in Hunting Dinosaurs in the Bad Lands of the Red Deer River, Alberta, Canada, third edition. NeWest Press, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
More technical articles describing and illustrating the bones from McKittrick
Brattstrom, B. H. 1953. Records of Pleistocene reptiles from California. Copeia 1953:174–179. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1439926
DeMay, I. S. 1941. Quaternary bird life of the McKittrick asphalt, California. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 530:35–60.
Miller, L. 1924. Branta dickeyi from theMcKittrick Pleistocene. The Condor 26:178–180. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1363171
Miller, L. 1925. Avifauna of the McKittrick Pleistocene. University of California Publications, Bulletin of the Department of Geological Sciences 15:307–326.
Miller, L. 1927. The falcons of the McKittrick Pleistocene. The Condor 29:150–152. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1363081
Miller, L. 1935. A second avifauna from the McKittrick Pleistocene. The Condor 37:72–79. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1363879
Miller, L. 1942. A Pleistocene tortoise from the McKittrick Asphalt. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 9:439–442. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5716249
Ross, 1935. A new genus and species of Pigmy Goose from the McKittrick Pleistocene. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History8: 107—114. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.14896
Schultz, J. R. 1938. A late Quaternary mammal fauna from the tar seeps of McKittrick, California. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 487:111–215.
More technical articles about the age, environment, and geology of the seeps
Church, C. C. 1968. The McKittrick Tar Seeps; pp. 86–92 in Geology and Oil Fields, West Side Southern San Joaquin Valley. 43rd Annual Meeting, 1968, Guidebook (AAPG, SEG, SEPM Pacific Sections). American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Pacific Section
Fox-Dobbs, K. , R. G. Dundas , R B. Trayler, and P.A. Holroyd (2014) Paleoecological implications of new megafaunal 14C ages from the McKittrick tar seeps, California, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 34:1, 220-223
Hodgson, S. F. 1987. Onshore Oil and Gas Seeps in California. California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil and Gas, Publication No. TR26, 97 pp.
Trayler, R. B., R. G. Dundas, K. Fox-Dobbs, and P.K. Van De Water. 2015. Inland California during the Pleistocene—Megafaunal stable isotope records reveal new paleoecological and paleoenvironmental insights. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 437:132-140.