Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History

Tucked away on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History is an educational treasure waiting to be discovered.

Tracing the main wall of the museum's foyer is a collection of some of the region's oldest inhabitants, live reptiles. A variety of eye-catching desert creatures are encased in display tanks, from the Western Whiptail, Nevada's most common lizard, to the venomous Gila Monster. At the center of the exhibit is an open-air habitat for desert tortoises.

A large portion of the museum puts focus on the lives and traditions of the Paiute and Hopi Indians. Positioned alongside prints of old photographs are a number of stone tools crafted by Southern Paiutes. Among them are choppers, hammers, scrapers and knife blades.

Also on display are a variety of baskets, including burden baskets, bowling baskets, seed beaters, storage baskets and mush bowls, which all played a key role in the Paiutes' day-to-day survival. Winter moccasins, made of badger skin and sewn with sinew, often worn by children in colder months, rest near a display of needles once used to stitch soft hides.

An exhibit dedicated to artistry features several Hopi katsina dolls, figurines carved out of cottonwood root by Hopi men, meant to portray numerous spirits. Carrying prayers of health, fertility and rain from the Hopi to the gods, katsinas are both male and female and represent plants, animals, human attributes, the sun and death. Some of the katsinas represented at the museum are Mastop (Fertility), Kwivi (Warrior God) and Honan (Badger).

In another section of the museum, a 72-piece artifact exhibit chronicles the history of ancient Mesoamerica. Among the pieces on display are ceramic baby figurines, a jade mask, basalt statues and an obsidian labret (lip piercing). The artifacts in the exhibit date from 1500 B.C. to A.D. 1519, and multiple societies are represented, including the Olmec, Veracruz, Maya, Aztec and others.

Nearby, visitors can learn about different forms of dress and view examples of the huipil (woman's blouse), men's traje (menswear) and various hair wraps. Another display of note contains more than 50 elaborate Mexican dance masks. The collection includes "Negritos," exquisite black masks decorated with bold red lips and white eyes.

The museum also offers several interactive exhibits, the largest being a traditional upright Navajo loom. Supported by wooden poles, the loom has no mechanical parts. Following the instructions posted nearby, visitors can try their hand at the difficult task of weaving.

Surrounded by a lush desert demonstration garden, the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History offers both a unique and exciting glimpse into the natural history of Southern Nevada and is well worth the trip.

-- Review by Noelani Jones