© Getty Images

Origins -

In the late 1990s, archaeologists working in a burial chamber in the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna necropolis west of Luxor, Egypt, made an unexpected discovery.

© Getty Images

Unusual artifact -

Hidden under the sand was a carefully crafted prosthetic big toe made of leather and wood buried next to a mummified woman, likely the daughter of a high status ancient Egyptian priest.  

© Getty Images

Earliest prosthesis -

Antiquities officials dated the prosthesis back to the 18th dynasty of King Amenhotep II (1450–1425 BCE), and said the discovery testified to the advancement of aesthetic surgery in the 15th century BCE. Known today as the Cairo Toe, the prosthesis, which besides its aesthetic appeal also served a practical purpose allowing the patient to maintain their balance, is the earliest prosthesis ever unearthed.

© Getty Images

First documented use of a prosthetic hand -

The Roman general Marcus Sergius Silus lost his right hand in battle during the Second Punic War (218–201 BCE). He had an iron hand made to hold his shield so that he could return to the fray. Silus is the first documented user of a prosthetic hand.

© Getty Images

Era of wooden limbs -

The Dark Ages saw little progress being made in the field of prosthetics. By the Middle Ages, however, knights were sometimes using wooden limbs for battle or to ride a horse.

© Getty Images

Refining the prosthetic limb -

A early, more sophisticated attempt at replicating a lost limb was made by the German Imperial Knight Götz von Berlichingen (1480–1562). In 1504, during the War of the Succession of Landshut, Berlichingen lost his right arm. He later had made two mechanical prosthetic iron replacements, the second of which was quite refined in its application, capable of holding objects from a shield or reins to a quill. Soon afterwards, one man would make inspired prosthetic advances.

© Public Domain

Functional limb prosthetics -

French army barber surgeon Ambroise Paré (c. 1510–1590) designed some of the first purely functional limb prosthetics for soldiers coming off the battlefield.

© Getty Images

Father of prosthetics -

Paré is often regarded as the father of modern amputation and prosthetics. He fashioned prosthesis with harnesses and knee lock controls for amputees. He also invented some ocular prostheses, making artificial eyes from enameled gold, silver, porcelain, and glass. A collection of Paré's groundbreaking works was published in Paris in 1575, the earliest written reference to prosthetics.

© Getty Images

"Iron Arm" -

In 1570 during the French Wars of Religion, the left arm of Huguenot captain François de la Noue (1531–1591) was shattered by a musket round and later amputated. De la Noue was fitted with an artificial iron arm with a hook for holding his reins. Henceforth, he became known as Bras-de-Fer, or "Iron Arm."

© Getty Images

'Anglesey' type -

During the Industrial Revolution, prosthetics technology advanced considerably. Famously, the wooden 'Anglesey' type artificial leg was introduced, made for an above-knee amputee. The design of the limb was originally developed by London limb-maker James Potts in 1800. It was popularized when worn by the Marquess of Anglesey, Henry Paget (1768–1854), who lost his leg during the battle of Waterloo in 1815.

© Getty Images

Portraits of protheses -

Victorian shoe and bootmaker James Gillingham (1839–1924) was a prosthetic limb manufacturer based in Somerset, England. He was one of the first to have photographs taken of his works. Here, an elderly man is seen wearing a pair of artificial legs.

© Getty Images

Prostheses for children -

Similarly, this studio photograph of a young girl wearing a pair of artificial legs helped advertise Gillingham's skill in producing prostheses for children.

© Getty Images

Modular limb design -

The American Civil War left many combatants from both sides severely disabled. Double amputee Samuel H. Decker became well known for designing his own artificial arms, later becoming a pioneer of modular limb design.

© Getty Images

The "Hanger limb" -

Alarmed by the record number of amputees from the American Civil War, Confederate States army veteran James Edward Hanger (pictured) patented a wooden leg he called the "Hanger limb."

© Public Domain

Hanger's innovations -

The "Hanger limb" was the first to incorporate an articulated knee joint and use rubber in the ankle and cushioning in the heel. In the years following the war, Hanger continued to expand and perfect his product, eventually founding what today is known as Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics, one of the leading prosthetic companies in the United States.

© Public Domain

Artificial limbs and wartime -

Hanger's revolutionary work spanned not only the Civil War, but the First World War as well. Inspired by his invention, British prosthetic pioneers began manufacturing similar designs. Pictured are British soldiers fitted with artificial limbs at Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton, London.

© Getty Images

Mass production of prostheses -

Queen Mary's Hospital became an important center for manufacturing limbs throughout the conflict and, for the first time, artificial limbs were being mass produced in response to the enormous number of casualties left maimed on the battlefield.

© Getty Images

Facial prostheses -

Prostheses intended for the wounded extended to the manufacture of facial prostheses, based on designs first drawn up by Ambroise Paré in the 16th century.

© Getty Images

First artificial limbs made from duralumin -

It was during the Great War that the first artificial limbs made from duralumin, a strong, hard, lightweight alloy of aluminum, appeared. Developed by English aviator André Marcel Desoutter (1894–1952) and his brother Charles, their company, Desoutter Brothers Limited, supplied duralumin prostheses to wounded troops and later to the wider public.

© Getty Images

A new lease of life -

Protheses for disabled ex-servicemen served as rehabilitation treatments for veterans who'd lost their limbs during wartime. A prosthetic limb enabled former soldiers to rediscover old skills or develop new ones.

© Getty Images

Getting back to work -

Being fitted with an artificial limb encouraged those mutilated on the battlefield to resume peacetime employment. Here, a veteran is seen working on his farm using an artificial arm to steer his plough.

© Getty Images

Inspiration -

A story that caught the imagination of the public was that of Marie Moentmann (1900–1974), a 15-year-old girl who lost her hands and full use of both arms in a factory accident in 1915 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was fitted with artificial hands, which she learned to use with proficiency—enough, in fact, to set up a business after well-wishers donated a significant start-up fund.

© Public Domain

Walter Reed Army Hospital -

Meanwhile, the Walter Reed Army Hospital produced a large number of artificial limbs for the returning veterans. In this 1919 image, a man with an artificial arm is seen learning to weld. Today, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. remains an important center for artificial limb production in the US.

© Getty Images

Limited progress in prosthetic technologies -

The Second World War was no less devastating for those fighting on the front. Unfortunately, the greater focus on military technology during the conflict was not matched with progress in prosthetic technologies.

© Getty Images

Artificial Limb Program -

It's for this reason that in 1945 the National Academy of Sciences in the United States set up the Artificial Limb Program, which initiated organized research in the field.

© Getty Images

Response to a scandal -

The worldwide thalidomide scandal of the 1960s saw thousands of children requiring prosthetic limbs after being born with a range of severe deformities. The outrage prompted a renewed effort to improve the design of limb prothesis.

© Getty Images

Leaps and bounds -

As a result, the 1970s witnessed significant improvements in the standard of prosthetics. In 1975, inventor Ysidro Martinez, an amputee himself, developed a limb that was designed to improve balance and reduce friction. His work ushered a new wave of technological advances designed to provide superior human functionality and comfort. This afforded amputees far greater freedom of movement, a fact exemplified by Terry Fox (1958–1981), a Canadian athlete who lost a leg to cancer but who then embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

© Getty Images

Carbon-fiber prostheses -

Before his fall from grace, South Africa's Oscar Pistorius was known around the world as the "Blade Runner" for competing in both nondisabled sprint events and in sprint events for below-knee amputees by running using J-shaped carbon-fiber prostheses.

© Getty Images

Bionic technology -

Limb prostheses research in the 21st century is very much about harnessing the power of touch bionics. The i-Limb Ultra (pictured) is a myoelectric, multi-articulating prosthetic hand with five individually powered digits. Invented by David Gow and his team at the Bioengineering Centre of the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, it's manufactured by Touch Bionics.

© Getty Images

The Hero Arm -

Here, a seven-year-old boy, who was born without a right hand, demonstrates his prosthetic arm called a Hero Arm, made by UK-based Open Bionics.

© Getty Images

The C-Leg -

Besides bionic technology, computer-aided artificial limbs like the C-Leg (pictured) are assisting those who've lost their lower limbs to again walk tall.

© Getty Images

3D technology -

Today, 3D printing has introduced a new era of collaborative prosthetic limb design. In a commendable initiative, E-Nable Prosthetics is a project that puts volunteers with 3D printers in touch with handicapped children who need a hand prosthesis.

Sources: (National Library of Medicine) (Premier Prosthetic) (ScienceDirect) (Smithsonian Magazine) (ResearchGate) (National Trust Collections) (BBC) (Harvard Medical School) (National Academy of Sciences) (Enabling the Future) 

See also: The wheelchair and its role in society

© Getty Images