Inventions & Discoveries · Medicine and health

Prosthesis

c. 3000–2800 BCE · Also known as prosthetic implant

A prosthesis is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part lost through injury, disease or a condition present at birth. The earliest archaeological evidence is an eye prosthesis, probably of bitumen paste covered with a thin layer of gold, buried with a woman at Shahr-i Shōkhta in Iran about 3000 to 2800 BCE. A wood and leather artificial big toe found on a mummy near Thebes, dated 950 to 710 BCE, shows signs of use. Ambroise Paré, considered the father of modern prosthetics, designed an above-knee device, and functional prostheses appeared in the 1500s.

Prosthesis
Image: The U.S. Army · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

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First known
c. 3000–2800 BCE
Where
Shahr-i Shōkhta, Iran

NoteThe wood and leather toe from a burial near Thebes, dated 950 to 710 BCE, is described as the first confirmed use of a prosthetic device, as it shows wear; before its discovery in 2000 the oldest known was an artificial leg from Capua.

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See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Prosthesis. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/prosthesis
MLA
“Prosthesis.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/prosthesis. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Prosthesis.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/prosthesis.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Prosthesis’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/prosthesis (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻