DOE - Fossil Energy Techline - Issued on:  November 9, 2006

Museum Exhibit Features Native American Artifacts Found on Former DOE Oil Field


Exhibit Opening Honors Native American Indian Heritage Month

Washington, DC -  A new exhibit has opened at the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History in Bakersfield, California.  The exhibit, Native American Lifeways, features artifacts excavated from the former Department of Energy oil field, Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 1, also known as Elk Hills.  The opening of the exhibit in November honors Native American Indian Heritage Month.

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When the Federal government sold its majority interest in Elk Hills to Occidental Petroleum in 1998, one of the conditions of the sale was for the Government to conduct environmental and cultural resources assessments and remediation of the 47,000 acre site.  The cultural resources evaluations began shortly after the sale and gleaned an impressive collection of artifacts that provided insights into the lives of a community of Native Americans who once inhabited the site.  The excavation of the site was concluded in 2003 and an interpretive display, "Yokuts Village," was constructed at the Buena Vista Museum of Natural History by the Native American Preservation Council of Kern County to show what life may have been like for the tribes of the Southern San Joaquin Valley.
Yokut Village exhibit
Yokuts Village interpretive display based on artifacts from
the region.
The Yokuts are group of about 50 small hunter/gatherer tribes, including the Tulamni, that are known to have occupied the San Joaquin Valley of California for at least seven thousand years.  Until approximately 100 years ago, the area had fresh water lakes and abundant vegetation and wildlife.  However, beginning in the latter half of the 19th century, the water from the lakes began to be diverted for agriculture and, by 1900, the lakes were virtually drained.    

The exhibit is sponsored by DOE, Occidental of Elk Hills, the Native American Heritage Preservation Council of Kern County, and the Archeology Department at California State University-Bakersfield. 

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For more information, contact:

  • Mike Jacobs, FE Office of Communications, 202-586-0507