Editing Midland, Texas (section)

=== Tourism ===
[[File:Permian Basin Petroleum Museum entrance, Midland, TX DSCN1296.JPG|thumb|right|[[Permian Basin Petroleum Museum]]]]
Sitting on the southern edge of the [[Llano Estacado]] and near the center of the [[Permian Basin (North America)|Permian Basin]] oil fields, Midland's economy has long been focused on petroleum exploration and extraction. Providing more information about this industry is the [[Permian Basin Petroleum Museum]], on the outskirts of town near Interstate 20. The museum houses numerous displays on the history, science, and technology of oil and gas development. The Permian Basin Petroleum Museum houses a collection of race cars designed by [[Jim Hall (race car driver)|Jim Hall]], a longtime Midland resident who pioneered the use of aerodynamic downforce in Formula One car design.

Midland is also home to The Museum of the Southwest. The museum features a collection of paintings by various members of the [[Taos Society of Artists]] and [[Karl Bodmer]] as well as engravings by John J. and John W. Audubon. Within the same museum complex are the Children's Museum and the Marian W. Blakemore Planetarium. The Museum of the Southwest is in the Turner Mansion, the historic 1934 home of Fred and Juliette Turner.

On display at the Midland County Historical Museum are reproductions of the "Midland Man", the skeleton of a [[Clovis Culture|Clovis]] female found near the city in 1953.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://texashistory.unt.edu/data/UNT/TP/2005-08/meta-pth-5326.tkl |title=Historic plaque – Midland Man : The Portal to Texas History |date=August 6, 2005 |publisher=Texashistory.unt.edu |access-date=November 16, 2012}}</ref> Analysis of the remains by Curtis R. McKinney using uranium-thorium analysis showed that the bones are 11,600 ± 800 years old. Presenting his findings at the annual meeting of the [[Geological Society of America]] in 1992, McKinney said, "[T]he Midland Woman was related to the earliest ancestors of every Indian who lives today, and she is very likely the only representative of those who created the Clovis cultures."