 The Western Center Museum campus. | |
 | |
Former name | Western Center for Archaeology & Paleontology |
|---|---|
| Established | 2006 |
| Location | 2345 Searl Parkway Hemet, CA 92543 |
| Coordinates | 33°42′19″N116°59′35″W / 33.70528°N 116.99306°W /33.70528; -116.99306 |
| Director | Alton Dooley |
| Website | http://www.westerncentermuseum.org/ |
| Opening hours | Tuesday - Sunday, 10am – 5pm |
TheWestern Science Center (WSC), formerly theWestern Center for Archaeology & Paleontology,[1] is a museum located nearDiamond Valley Lake inHemet, California. The WSC is home to a large collection ofNative American artifacts andIce Agefossils that were unearthed at Diamond Valley Lake, including "Max", the largestmastodon found in the western United States, and "Xena", a Columbianmammoth, as well asdinosaur fossils recovered fromNew Mexico.
Opened in 2006, the museum has been designed to provide world-class facilities for the research, curation, and presentation of the nearly one million specimens discovered during the development of Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet.[2]
The 33,000 square feet (3,100 m2) building was designed to be among the most eco-friendly museums in the United States. Its special environmental features includesolar panels on the roof, cold-water pipelines running underneath the floor to reduce air conditioning, landscaping with low-irrigation native foliage, and extensive water reclamation. In 2008, it was awardedLEED Platinum Status by theUS Green Building Council, their highest rating, and was the first museum in the United States to receive the recognition.[3]
The museum's public displays are housed in the permanent gallery, with another gallery housing temporary and traveling exhibits. The collections are held in the repository, not open to the public, which features 14-foot-tall (4.3 m), fully motorized compactor shelving units. The Collections Repository holds many paleontological and archaeological collections ofRiverside County projects.[4]
The museum features a 156 feet (48 m) long exterior walkway that holds a life-on-Earth timeline. The welcome lobby features 24 feet (7.3 m) high walls with re-created paleontological strata and reproduction fossils projecting from the walls.
The tour of the permanent gallery begins with interactive exhibits on thenatural history of Domenigoni and Diamond Valleys, continuing through displays on European and Native American culture and history from the area. Among the artifacts on display are pieces donated by the Domenigoni family, the original settlers of the valley, and the Soboba band ofLuiseño Indians that inhabited the area before them.
Visitors can view two movies on the construction of Diamond Valley Lake, and the fauna of thePleistocene in the Diamond and Domenigoni Valleys, shown in a 270 degree immersive theater that shakes with the movies. From there, visitors proceed to thepaleontology gallery, replete withfossils recovered and studied by scientists from the San Bernardino County Museum. The highlights of this gallery are the skeletons of "Max", the largestmastodon ever discovered in the western United States, and "Xena", aColumbian mammoth. Also featured in the gallery is "Li'l Stevie", one of the most complete mastodons known from the western United States, who is displayed unreconstructed and still partially buried as found when it was first uncovered. The gallery also features the skeletons of aHarlan's ground sloth, and interactive displays on the disciplines ofarchaeology and paleontology. Visitors can also visit temporary traveling exhibits in the 3,000 square feet (280 m2) temporary exhibit area.[5]
On August 21, 2021, the museum opened the new gallery,Prehistory Pathways, which focuses on fossils found in New Mexico'sMenefee Formation and the museum's research there.[6][7][8] Included is the hadrosaurOrnatops, whose holotype is at the science centre, as well as artwork and models by the noted Brian Engh.
The museum also features a full-scale simulated archaeology and paleontology dig site, which opened for its first student excavations in the spring of 2009. It is currently being used by WSC staff, in association with local K-12 schools and colleges, to teach proper excavation methodology to students. It is also open for museum visitors to view an active dig site in process.[9]
In November 2008 theSmithsonian Institution grantedAffiliate status to WSC.[10]