BASEL, SWITZERLAND—According to a report in Swiss Info, researchers from the University of Basel, the University of Zurich, and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo re-examined a 3,000-year-old prosthetic toe discovered in Egypt’s Sheikh ‘Abd el-Qurna necropolis with modern imaging techniques, including microscopy, X-ray technology, and computed tomography. The prosthesis belonged to the daughter of a priest whose big right toe appears to have been amputated. The wooden toe had been refitted several times. “They often wore sandals, so you can imagine that a well-formed foot was important,” said Andrea Loprieno-Gnirs of the University of Basel. “The wooden toe shows that she had a certain living standard, and also that there were craftsmen capable of making such prosthetics.” For more on archaeology in Egypt, go to “Afterlife on the Nile.”
