This development has changed the landscape of knowledge about Crazy Horse and the burial mystery in ways that continue to unfold.

The most important thing that has changed is not what is known about the burial location — that remains uncertain — but who is considered authoritative in answering the question.

The community’s own scholars, the community’s own elders, the community’s own oral tradition now have standing in the academic conversation that they did not always have.

That standing does not guarantee that the burial mystery will be resolved.

But it changes the terms on which the mystery is engaged.