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General discussion

Hey!....... Nice toe,............... Is it functional?

by JP Bill Jul 26, 2007 12:08PM PDT

Is fake big toe from ancient Egypt world's first known prosthetic?

TORONTO (CP) - A British researcher is taking steps to prove whether an artificial big toe found attached to the foot of an ancient Egyptian mummy is actually the world's earliest known functional prosthetic body part.

Known as the "Cairo toe," the wooden and leather appendage was on the mummified body of a woman discovered in a tomb from ancient Thebes, now modern-day Luxor in Egypt. Tests suggested the woman was aged 50 to 60 at the time of her death and may have lost the big toe due to diabetes.

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