The world’s oldest prosthetic limb belongs to an ancient Egyptian woman, who was outfitted with wood and leather toe prosthesis in approximately 1000 B.C. The toe (now in the Cairo museum in Egypt) was found in 2000 in a tomb near the ancient city of Thebes. Archaeologists speculated the 50-60-year-old woman the prosthesis came from might have lost her toe due to complications from diabetes.
The findings from this study, which have been published in full in the Journal of Prosthetics and Orthotics, means the earliest known prosthetic is now more likely to come from ancient Egypt. The three part example pre-dates by some 400 years what is currently thought to be the oldest, although untested, prosthetic device. This is a bronze and wooden leg that was found in a Roman burial in Capua, Southern Italy. That has been dated to 300 BC although only a replica now remains as the original was destroyed in a bombing raid over London during the war.
Picture Credit : Google