I'm thinking the first three are broken shaft straighteners but not sure? They were found in context with tons of flakes, cores, and brokes. The collection is primarily from north Louisiana with a few from northeast Alabama. Small collection that hopefully I can add to someday.
Used for 'sanding' & shaping arrows, straighteners have a hole all the way through & are used to bend shafts after soaking. A long time ago When I was a kid I was taught to use those by my Mohawk grandfather who believed the old ways were still best.
Believe it or not the stone effigy was the first artifact I ever found. Kind of hooked after that. I found it near D'arbonne Bayou in north La. when I was 8 or 9 years old by accident. Over 40 years ago. Has been viewed by professors/archaeologists at La. Tech and LSU. Was on loan to their small museum at La. Tech while I attended there. Believed to be Caddoan.
No, that's the only piece I have that is not. It was found by my grandfather. He and his brothers picked up artifacts while working his fathers fields. He said at one point they had a wooden box with hundreds of points but he didn't know what happened to it.
The entire rock is almost 16" long, 9"at it's widest, and 10" at it's highest. The story of how I found it is kind of funny and purely by accident. When I was a kid, my family had a fishing camp on Lake D'arbonne in north Louisiana where we spent many weekends. It was located at the end of a small cove created by a creek entering the lake. One day, my brothers and I were fishing off the bank close to the creek. I had to tinkle so I stepped into the woods next to the creek bank. I noticed a big rock and decided to dig it out. When I flipped it over, there it was. I latter learned that when they draw the lake down, people find artifacts where that creek enters the old bayou. About a football fields length from where the effigy was located. Nonetheless, had I not had to tinkle, and was not a very curious boy, it may never had been found. The archeologists who saw it determined it to be Caddoan. Based upon the type of material and the way it weathers they thought it could possibly be as old as 400 years. It was fortunate that at some time it had been turned over and buried. Otherwise, it would have been severely eroded and probably not recognizable.