St. Albans

Name: Bettye Broyles named the the St. Albans for examples recovered from the St. Albans site in Kanawha County, West Virginia.[1]

Age: Their recovery at the St. Albans site indicates that the type may have preceded the LeCroy type. Whatley noted that  St. Albans examples from the St. Albans site dated between 8850 and 8750 years BC.

Description: The blade of the St. Albans type is lenticular in cross-section with excurvate to straight blade edges that meet at an acute distal end.The type has been described as  a medium-sized point.  The blade edges are usually serrated and has abifurcated stem.The key differences between the MacCorkle and the St. Albans (both named at the St. Albans site by Boyles) amounts to the length and thickness of blades.The MacCorkle point averages between 1.5 and 2.5 inches in length.The St. Albans type is slightly shorter, narrower and thicker in cross section.  Care must be taken not to confuse the St. Albans with the very similar LeCroy point.  LeCroy points are smaller and thinner than the St. Albans.

Distribution: John Whatley notes that the focus area for the St. Albans point in Georgia is limited to the upper Piedmont area of northwest Georgia with some examples in the upper coastal plain.[2] The LeCroy has a wider pattern of distribution.

Information for this article was derived from John S.  Whatley, Early Georgia: An overview of Georgia Projectile Points and Selected Cutting Tools, The Society for Georgia Archaeology, Vol. 30, No.1 2002

[1] Broyles, Bettye, Preliminary Report: The St. Albans Site (46Ks27), Kanawha County, West Virginia. West Virginia Archaeologist 19

[2] Whatley, John S., An Overview of Georgia Projectile Points And Selected Cutting Tools, Early Georgia, Vol. 30, No. 1, The Society for Georgia Archaeology. April, 2002