The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History opens "Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th- Century Chesapeake" Saturday, an anthropological exhibition studying the way that early colonists in the Chesapeake region lived and died.

Among collected artifacts are about 340 pieces from the SI and 20 other archaeological organizations around the world, including original lead coffins, facial reconstructions, life size models and other eerie windows into the past.

Insiders bill the exhibition as the Smithsonian's version of CSI, where scientists have examined the remains of these colonists, reconstructed their lives and retold their stories around their past. It should be a pretty interesting story.

The exhibition will be on display for the next two years, so if you can't make it down to DC anytime soon, you've got a little bit of time to build an itinerary. And don't forget, access the spectrum of Smithsonian Museums is free, so this could be the budget destination that you've been looking for.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning