Discover The Northern Mojave Desert
Our Mission is to preserve, interpret, and develop an appreciation for the natural and cultural history of the Northern Mojave Desert through research and education in the natural and physical sciences, and to promote the arts.
Founded in 1962, the Maturango Museum is an important educational and cultural resource in Ridgecrest, California. In addition to the exhibit galleries, which feature the natural and cultural history of the Upper Mojave Desert, the Museum sponsors art exhibits, cultural programs and tours. Those tours include trips to the world-famous Coso petroglyphs. The Museum is an information center for Death Valley, the Northern Mojave Desert, and the Highway 395 and 178 corridors.
Museum Exhibits and Programs
The Maturango Museum is home to a wide variety of permanent and temporary exhibits and programs. Those exhibits and programs include:
Lectures on archaeology, natural history, & local interest Concerts Art and photography exhibits Tours - petroglyphs, geology, art, local points of interest Historical and archaeological curation, library, and research Publications in archaeology, rock art, topics of local interest Docent education programs in local schools Gladys Merrick garden Star parties at museum observatory Annual Wildflower Show Other special events
Little Petroglyph Canyon Petroglyph Tours
We are unable to offer tours at this time.
In the canyons cutting through the volcanic rocks of the Coso Mountains are thousands of images left by the indigenous people who populated this region many years ago. This is the largest known concentration of petroglyphs in the Western Hemisphere. The images range in age from before 13,000 years to the present.
Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake is not currently allowing Petroglyph tours. Should tours resume they will be posted on our events page.
We offer a wide variety of resources and information about these images on this website and in our museum gift shop.