Maturango Museum is located in Ridgecrest, California. The

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

is best known for the guided tours of the Coso Rock Art District located on China Lake Naval Weapons Station. The museum offers exhibits and displays featuring both the

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

and the cultural

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

of the Northern

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...

with exhibits of

animals Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...

plants Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude ...

, rocks and minerals, Native American artifacts, and contemporary arts and crafts.

About

This small museum was founded in 1962 and originally designed to highlight the history of Ridgecrest and nearby China Lake. The museum was named after the highest peak in the close by Argus Range. The town of Ridgecrest, where the museum is located, is surrounded by four

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

ranges: the Sierra Nevada on the west, the Cosos on the north, the Argus Range on the east, and the

El Paso Mountains The El Paso Mountains are located in the northern Mojave Desert, in central Southern California in the Western United States. Geography The range lies in a southwest-northeasterly direction east of Highway 14, and north of the Rand Mountains and ...

on the south. It is approximately 80 miles from the Lancaster/Palmdale area and approximately from both Bakersfield and San Bernardino, the three nearest major urban centers. Since 2014, Debbie Benson has served as director of the museum.

References

External links

Maturango Museum Home PageRidgecrest Desert Wildflower Festival
{{authority control Museums in Kern County, California History museums in California Natural history museums in California Native American museums in California Mojave Desert Ridgecrest, California Paleontology in California History of Kern County, California Natural history of the Mojave Desert Museums established in 1962 1962 establishments in California

About

See also

References

External links