The skeleton that the Page Museum doesn't want you to see You
could call it the skeleton in the Page Museum's closet. For
years, the George C. Page Museum in Los Angeles has housed a
9,000-year-old set of bones that is said to be the only human
remains recovered from the Rancho La Brea area, which is famous
for its prehistorical tar pits. A cast of the skull was on
display at the museum for a period but the museum withdrew it
from exhibition about five years ago and placed it in storage
along with the original bones. Now, a former volunteer at the
museum has published images of a facial reconstruction of the
specimen against the museum's wishes. She claims that the museum
is scared that her reconstruction, in which the specimen is
depicted as having Native American features, will encourage
tribes to reclaim the bones for reburial. "Obviously they're not
completely happy about it," said Melissa Cooper, the former
volunteer in question, when asked about going public with her
work. She said that the museum won't