Western Science Center
The Western Center Museum campus.
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| Former name | Western Center for Archaeology & Paleontology |
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| Established | 2006 |
| Location | 2345 Searl Parkway Hemet, CA 92543 |
| Coordinates | 33°42′19″N 116°59′35″W / 33.70528°N 116.99306°WCoordinates: 33°42′19″N 116°59′35″W / 33.70528°N 116.99306°W |
| Director | Alton Dooley |
| Website | http://www.westerncentermuseum.org/ |
| Opening hours | Tuesday - Sunday, 10am – 5pm |
The Western Science Center (WSC), formerly the Western Center for Archaeology & Paleontology, is a museum located near Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet, California. The WSC is home to a large collection of Native American artifacts and Ice Age fossils that were unearthed at Diamond Valley Lake, including "Max", the largest mastodon found in the western United States, and "Xena", a Columbian mammoth.
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.
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 include solar panels on the roof, cold-water pipelines run below the floor to reduce air conditioning, landscaping with low-irrigation native foliage, and extensive water reclamation. In 2008, it was awarded LEED Platinum Status by the US Green Building Council, their highest rating, and was the first museum in the United States to receive the recognition.
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 of Riverside County projects.
The museum features a 156 feet (48 m) long exterior walkway that holds a life-on-Earth time line. 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 the natural 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 of Luiseño Indians that inhabited the area before them.
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