The Lakota approach — which varied across bands and changed over time, and should not be presented as a single uniform practice — involved a relationship between the living and the dead that was understood differently from the Western framework.

Scaffold burials — placing the body on an elevated platform, often in a tree or on poles — were common, allowing the body to return to earth gradually.

Personal possessions might be buried with the deceased or placed at the burial site.

The relationship between the living and the place of burial was not necessarily about regular visitation and maintenance in the way that a cemetery plot implies.

The specific concern that motivated the secrecy of Crazy Horse’s burial was not simply general cultural discomfort with public knowledge of burial locations.