page_title: Western Science Center
section_title: Exhibits
hierarchical_section_title: Western Science Center / Exhibits
caption_attribution_description: English: Paramylodon harlani on display at the Western Center for Archaeology &amp; Paleontology in Hemet, California.
context_page_description: The Western Science Center, 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.
context_section_description: 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.
  Visitors can view two movies on the construction of Diamond Valley Lake, and the fauna of the Pleistocene in the Diamond and Domenigoni Valleys, shown in a 270 degree immersive theater that shakes with the movies. From there, visitors proceed to the paleontology gallery, replete with fossils recovered and studied by scientists from the San Bernardino County Museum. The highlights of this gallery are the skeletons of "Max", the largest mastodon ever discovered in the western United States, and "Xena", a Columbian 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 a Harlan's ground sloth, and interactive displays on the disciplines of archaeology and paleontology. Visitors can also visit temporary traveling exhibits in the 3,000 square feet (280 m²) temporary exhibit area.
  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.
caption: Harlan's ground sloth at WSC
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 20D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2006:12:19 20:09:36", "Image Artist": "unknown", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "730", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5410", "EXIF ExposureTime": "8/5", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:12:17 14:33:55", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:12:17 14:33:55", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "-84759/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "331919/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Partial", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "28", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3504", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2336", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "31750/11", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2704000/937", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Bracket", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}