PITTSBURGH (CNN) -- The Carnegie Museum of Natural History opens a new exhibit Saturday (June 6) focusing on the relationships between American Indians and the natural world, particularly in contemporary times.

The Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians features nearly 1,000 artifacts, realistic dioramas, audio programs, short videos, two interactive computer activities and a planetarium-style theater. Eight years in the making, the exhibit cost $3.7 million dollars.

The exhibit focuses on four tribes representing four geographic areas -- the Tlingit of the Northwest Coast, Hopi of the Southwest, Lakota of the Plains and Iroquois of the Northeast -- and the Native peoples' experiences in urban areas, especially Pittsburgh.

The exhibit includes storytellers on videotape and a star show explaining the Indians' knowledge of the universe. About 50 Native people participated with the museum to create the exhibit, the largest of its kind east of the Mississippi River.

To celebrate the opening, the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center is holding a pow-wow on Saturday and Sunday (June 6 and 7) from noon to 6 p.m. Complementing the opening will be "Inventing the Southwest: The Fred Harvey Company and American Indian Art," on display through September 6. The exhibit chronicles the restaurant chain Harvey founded in 1876 to serve rail passengers traveling west -- and the Indian Department, begun by his family after his death, which promoted Native art and culture with locations in the Southwest.