ANE COWAN, REPORTER: At a pow-wow in Spearfish, South Dakota, an ancient culture feels very much alive. Indian tribes from across the country come to dance together as they have for generations.

LAKOTA MAN: It's very important to us Lakota people 'cause this helps carry on our culture and our beliefs and celebration of life.

JANE COWAN: Amid the eagle feathers and drum beats, you can almost forget you're in a high school gymnasium.

But if tradition survives, so do the grievances from a violent past.

It's more than a century since US soldiers massacred as many as 300 men, women and children at Wounded Knee in the last major bloodshed of the American Indian wars.

Today the mass grave where Big Foot and his band are buried is considered so sacred, some descendants are loathe to set foot on it, even to pay their respects.

EMERSON ELK, DESCENDANT: In 1890, the great atrocity that was committed here at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. And this is a crime scene. Crime scene - we're still awaiting justice today.