大多数博物馆只讲述过去的故事 阿瓜卡连特文化博物馆 in 棕榈泉 做更多的事情. 随着博物馆将几千年的 卡韦拉印第安人的阿瓜·卡连特部落 历史, 它将这些传统与部落充满活力的, modern existence in the Coachella Valley and to future generations.
The museum, which opened in 2023, is a major component of downtown 棕榈泉’ 5.8-acre Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza, the country’s second-largest Native American cultural center. 不像加州的机构，比如 国立印第安博物馆 在萨克拉门托 美国西部奥特里博物馆 在洛杉矶, both of which take an intertribal approach to Native American 历史, the Agua Caliente center has a specific focus on this tribe that has lived in and around 棕榈泉 for thousands of years.
在博物馆2018年的奠基仪式上，美国总统奥巴马.S. 众议员劳尔·鲁伊斯说, “The Cahuilla people have inhabited the Coachella Valley since time immemorial. 它们的创造故事就从这里开始. 这是他们的伊甸园.”
很少有游客 棕榈泉 have a sense of the deep 历史 of the area’s indigenous people, and a big part of the museum’s mission is to raise awareness and foster an appreciation of the Agua Caliente band’s remarkable heritage. 但更重要的是, the cultural center was created for the Agua Caliente people themselves to help preserve tribal traditions and legends that might otherwise be lost for later generations.
对于阿瓜卡连特来说，这个中锋有很多角色. 这是年轻人的教学工具, 成年人的文化资源, 也是一个能激发自豪感的聚集地. Steven Karr, 博物馆的执行董事, 说, “We are working to help the 卡韦拉印第安人的阿瓜·卡连特部落 fulfill its goal of building and operating a museum for their own community…This is important as 更多的 and 更多的 Native American communities throughout the 美国 are anxious to tell their own stories in their own voices.”
这里, 在这个引人注目的新设施, you will literally hear those voices: Screens in the museum show interviews with Agua Caliente tribal members as they describe the significance of their culture from a deeply personal perspective.
博物馆体验
天然石材建造, the museum features a striking contemporary design inspired by the Agua Caliente’s basketmaking tradition. A circular structure is a visual metaphor for a partially woven basket, with curving walls emanating from the round design that are intended to suggest strands of fibers. The Agua Caliente are known for their crafts, including baskets and and 什锦菜 (clay storage vessels), and the museum displays an exquisite collection of tribal artistry.
这个博物馆以一个主题来吸引游客, non-chronological journey through the world of the Agua Caliente, 有一个主10,000-square-foot exhibition space that introduces visitors to different aspects of the tribe’s story. Visitors can experience tribal creation and migration stories during a 10-minute, 360-degree digital animation presentation that’s projected onto the wraparound walls of a state-of-the-art theater.
One exhibit focuses on the natural world of the Agua Caliente, most notably the famed 印度的峡谷 以及像绿洲一样的加利福尼亚扇棕榈树. 还有一个有趣的转折, the museum waits until the final exhibit to take visitors all the way back into the Agua Caliente’s ancient world.
Such archaeologically focused displays would typically be the first that visitors encounter in a museum, 其中大部分是按时间顺序排列的. But the tribe opted to tell the story of its culture in a manner where the past is not treated as so distinct from the present. 事实上, the cultural plaza itself is a reminder of that continuity because this modern cultural complex is physically connected to one of the tribe’s significant prehistoric sites.
在开挖和施工开挖过程中, tribal archaeological monitors were on hand to ensure that any unearthed artifacts would be preserved. 事实证明, they discovered a rich trove of items—spear and projectile points, 磨石和工具, 还有蛤蜊和鲍鱼的贝壳珠. Carbon dating of these items suggests that the human presence at the site dates as far back as 8,200年前, 这比之前认为的要早得多. 现在, 被埋了几千年之后, many of these objects are on display as part of the museum’s permanent collection.
探索文化广场的其他部分
当你走出博物馆的时候, be sure stop in the museum store to browse a curated mix of Native American-made crafts and goods, 包括艺术, 珠宝, 书, 烹饪产品, 比如广受好评的橄榄油和醋 时山 in Yolo县的意思.
文化广场还包括神圣的温泉, 哪里的水被认为是12,有一千年历史的气泡浮出水面. 从博物馆, 广场的绿洲步道, 有流水的小路, 巨石, and towering California fan palms that recreate the setting of the nearby 印度n Canyon oases, 从博物馆到 ssamac -he的水疗中心 (开水声). 22间私人浴室, 还有游泳池, here you can quite literally immerse yourself in the ancient world of the Agua Caliente as you soak in mineral waters fed from 8,000 feet underground by the very hot springs that gave the tribe its name.
水疗中心强调以自然为基础的疗法, 包括用于盐疗的盐洞和桉树蒸汽室, and has an outdoor tranquility garden that allows guests to bask in the warm, 恢复沙漠空气活力.
