These boatstones from Jonas Short Mound are made from syenite and probably come from outcrops near Little Rock, Arkansas. The smooth river pebbles in the one on the left are still in the original find position within the boatstone. These probably served as rattles held within because the boatstone was tightly affixed to its atlatl. This lends additional support to the notion that atlatls with exotic boatstones were strictly ritual objects—what hunter would want his presence announced by a loud rattle? TARL archives.
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