Native American Burials

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsPrimary PurposeLaw

Keep going in LSAT Lab

Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one
Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step
81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Free to start

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Passage

Many Native Americans view the archaeological excavation and museum display of ancestral skeletal remains and items buried with them as a spiritual desecration. A number of legal remedies that either prohibit or regulate such activities may be available to Native American communities, if they can establish standing in such cases. In disinterment however, common law may provide a basis for some Native American claims against archaeologists and museums.

Property law, for example, can be useful in establishing Native American claims to artifacts that are retrieved in the excavation of ancient graves and can be considered the communal property of Native American tribes or communities. In Charrier v. Bell, a United States appellate court ruled that the common law doctrine of graves should be returned to representatives of tribal groups who can establish standing in such cases.

More generally, United States courts have upheld the distinction between individual and communal property, holding that an individual Native American does not have title to communal property owned and held for common use by his or her tribe. As a result, museums cannot assume that they have valid title to cultural property in good faith by an individual member of a Native American community.

What this question is testing

Primary Purpose

Your task

Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.

Common trap

Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.

Winning move

Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question

The primary purpose of the passage is to provide an answer to which on of

Answer choices

Out of Scope: enhanced1% picked this
How should the legal protection of Native American burial grounds
The passage never makes any suggestions about how to change the legal protection of Native American burial grounds. This sort of question would fit a Problem / Solution passage well, but this was not that kind of passage.
1%
Too Narrow8% picked this
What characteristics of Native American burial grounds enhance their chances for protection
This question would potentially cover the discussion of when Native Americans are more/less likely to achieve standing in cases involving burial grounds. But this question wouldn't have anything do with paragraph 2 or 3. Nothing in paragraph 2 or 3 lists any characteristic of a Native American burial ground.
8%
Correct80% picked this
In what ways does the law protect the rights of Native Americans in regard to the
Why this is right
This relates to the discussion of what it takes for Native Americans to achieve standing, from the 1st paragraph. We can say, for example, that the law doesn't really protect the rights of Native American in regards to the contents of ancestral graves in cases of ancient graves that aren't clearly associated with any tribe. And the 2nd and 3rd paragraph provide big answers to this question. Property Law and the distinction between communal / private property are the ways in which the law helps protect the rights of Native Americans regarding the contents of ancient graves.
Skill tested: Primary Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
80%
Out of Scope: courts' concern1% picked this
Why are the courts concerned with protecting Native American burial grounds
We actually don't ever hear in the passage a reason why courts are concerned with protecting Native American burial grounds from desecration. Not only is the court's motivation totally out of scope, it's also not even the central topic to be focusing on the desecration of the burial grounds. Yes, the burial grounds are often desecrated when a grave-robber digs up an ancient grave, but the passage is more about the legal efforts of Native Americans to reclaim the property that was taken from the ancestral grave. And it's about stopping people from desecrating the spirit of the dead person, not the burial grounds themselves.
1%
Out of Scope: establish land rights10% picked this
By what means can Native Americans establish their rights to land on which their
The passage doesn't ever talk about how Native Americans can establish that "THEY own this land that their ancestors are buried on!" This isn't a passage about Native Americans suing so that they can own the land on which their ancestors are buried. It's primarily a passage about Native Americans suing so that they can reclaim the items taken from ancestral graves.
10%

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free