Kanawha Madonna facts for kids
The Kanawha Madonna is a special wood carving that shows a person holding a four-legged animal. This unique statue is kept at the West Virginia State Museum. You can see it displayed in the Cultural Center. It's a great example of ancient Native American wood carving. The statue stands almost 4 feet (1.2 m) tall. Its base is about 8 inches (20 cm) high and 13 inches (33 cm) wide. The carving was made from the trunk of a honey locust tree. There's a hole at the bottom of the base, which might mean it was once placed on a pole.
How the Kanawha Madonna Was Found
In 1897, four teenage boys were exploring a cave. This cave was located on a cliff above the lower New River in Kanawha County, West Virginia. While exploring, they made an amazing discovery! They found the statue hidden under a large flat stone.
Soon after, a man named Dr. John P. Hale learned about the statue. He was a member of the West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society. Dr. Hale acquired the statue and even visited the cave where it was found. He later wrote a paper about this interesting carving.
Figuring Out Its Age
Scientists have used special tests to find out how old the Kanawha Madonna is. In 1964, a test called radiocarbon dating suggested the statue was about 350 years old.
More recently, another radiocarbon dating test was done. This test estimated that the wood used for the carving came from a tree that lived between the years 1440 and 1600 CE. It's important to remember that this date tells us when the tree was cut down. The statue itself could have been carved at any time after that.
