(Images: Chinese Archaeology)
Archaeologists excavating a 2,200-year old tomb in Turpan, China, have found a unique prosthetic leg design. It was used by man who appeared to have a deformed leg. He was unable to straighten the knee joint, which rested in the socket of the prosthesis. The base isn't shaped like a human foot, but a horse's hoof. Live Science quotes the journal Chinese Archaeology:
The prosthetic leg was "made of poplar wood; it has seven holes along the two sides with leather tapes for attaching it to the deformed leg," the archaeologists wrote. "The lower part of the prosthetic leg is rendered into a cylindrical shape, wrapped with a scrapped ox horn and tipped with a horsehoof, which is meant to augment its adhesion and abrasion."
"The severe wear of the top implies that it has been in use for a long time," they added.
-via Nag on the Lake