Southern California 20K years ago: Ice Age

The Ice Age secrets hiding beneath California

Native Californians and their kizh houses

(Voyager) June 7, 2025: CALIFORNIA. What’s hiding beneath California? This Ice Age deep-dive reveals fossils, lost megafauna (large animals), ancient humans (Natives), and the land before cities.

The paleobiota of the LA Tar Pits

Today, we journey back to a California few ever imagine, an ancient landscape buried beneath our cities, beaches, and freeways. Long before San Diego’s skyline rose or La Jolla’s cliffs drew surfers, this land was ruled by Columbian mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and early humans (pre-Clovis) who braved a world still shaped by ice. From submerged Kumeyaay village sites to fossil-filled tar pits and coastal cliffs hiding prehistoric secrets, this is the untold story of Ice Age California.

(Science) People first came to America by boat, not Beiring land bridge

• FREE San Diego "Top Must-See Spots" 👉 Voyager-eBooks

In this video

🔹 What San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Channel Islands such as Catalina looked like 20,000 years ago

🔹 The giants that once roamed the coast: mammoths, dire wolves, and saber-toothed cats

🔹 Human footprints on ancient shores — early seafarers, hunters, and toolmakers

🔹 How fossils found during construction projects and cliffside erosion are rewriting history

🔹 Why understanding the deep past matters in today’s changing world

Timecodes

• 0:00 Hidden beneath California
• 1:32 What California looked like 20,000 years ago
• 5:15 Giants of the Ice Age: mammoths, saber-tooth tigers, and more
• 9:15 Clues in unexpected places
• 12:24 Pioneers of the Ice Age: California’s first people
• 16:05 When the giants disappeared
• 19:36 Traces in today’s world
• 21:11 Outro and what comes next

Land of the Tongva became modern Los Angeles

ABOUT: In this episode, Armando from Voyager takes viewers deep beneath the surface of California — into a forgotten world shaped during the last Ice Age. From saber-toothed cats and Columbian mammoths to early human seafarers and ancient submerged villages, we uncover the astonishing history hidden under modern-day San Diego and beyond. This journey blends science, storytelling, and Indigenous memory to reveal a California most people never imagined. Whether into fossils, archeology, or just want to see California in a whole new light, this is a story that redefines the land beneath our feet.

• San Diego • What's hiding under San Diego?
• Los Angeles • What’s hiding under Los Angeles streets?

YouTube: @voyagerhq • Instagram: voyagerclips • TikTok: voyagerhq • Website: voyagertraveltips.com. QUESTIONS: Have a question about Southern California or video topic requests? Drop it in the comments. #IceAgeCalifornia #PrehistoricCalifornia #CaliforniaHistory #AncientCalifornia #HiddenHistory.

20,000 years later in Trump's America

(ABC News, AU) From American Dream to Nightmare: Inside LA Protests | Lauren Day, 7.30

(OnScene TV) LAPD makes mass arrest on Day 5 of ICE raid protests

• Armando, Voyager, June 7, 2025; Xochitl, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly