The site is famous for the three shaft burials and exotic grave goods excavated there in the early twentieth century.

[3] The Gahagan Site is located on the western side of the Red River, about halfway between Natchitoches and Shreveport.

[4] The grave goods found during the excavations included intricately flaked flint knives, known since as Gahagan blades, a matched pair of long-nosed god maskette earrings made of sheet copper,[5] Missouri flint clay statues and pipes,[3] copper ear ornaments, embossed copper plates,[6] greenstone celts and spuds, and caches of beads and arrow heads.

Many of the grave goods were exotic imports from such distant places as the Gulf Coast, the Central Texas plateau, Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Great Lakes,[4] and may be indicative of involvement in continent wide trade and religious networks such as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex.

They were made from chert from this area and archaeologists believe they were produced as a trade export by groups there.