Projectile point · Early Archaic
St. Albans
7000–6500 BCE, Archaic (Eastern)
St. Albans was defined by Broyles from the St. Albans site on the Kanawha River in West Virginia, where its stratified levels anchor the Early Archaic bifurcate sequence MacCorkle, St. Albans, LeCroy, Kanawha. It is found throughout the Ohio Valley and into the Southeast, typically on Kanawha black flint, Upper Mercer chert or Flint Ridge flint.
| Object | Projectile point |
|---|---|
| Dates | 7000–6500 BCE |
| Period | Early Archaic |
| Cultures | Archaic (Eastern) |
| Regions | North America — Eastern Woodlands, North America — Southeast |
Diagnostic traits
Small bifurcated point with rounded basal lobes, shallow side notches, weak shoulders, a serrated triangular blade and lightly ground haft edges.
Identification
St. Albans has rounder lobes and shallower bifurcation than LeCroy, whose lobes are squared and deeply split, and is smaller than MacCorkle. Kanawha is later, with a barely notched base and no basal grinding.
Reproductions and fakes
Small bifurcates are cheap and seldom faked; the issue is separating the four bifurcate types, which genuine examples make no easier.
Cite this article
Stratum Strata. "St. Albans" (Artifact type). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21. https://stratum.black/strata/types/st-albans. Accessed 2026-09-21.
@misc{stratum-st-albans,
title = {St. Albans},
author = {{Stratum Strata}},
howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/types/st-albans}},
year = {2026},
note = {Artifact type article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-21; sources: stratum. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
} Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.