Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. Prosthetics are true testaments to not only human craftsmanship and ingenuity, but also to the plasticity of
the human brain. With skill, practice and rehabilitation, materials crafted in the likeness of a human limb can replace it, and our technological ability to do this continues to improve, benefiting from high tech haptic technology, three D printing, and much more. But of course, the idea of artificial limbs is an ancient one, and we see it reflected in the myths and legends of various places around the world.
In Irish mythology, the first ruler of the Duara Da Dan and King Nuada loses a hand or an arm in battle and replaces it with a silver prosthesis, and as that god has Catlipoca, lord of the Smoking Mirror, is said to have lost his right foot in a
battle against the Earth Monster. As such, he is often depicted with a prosthesis of gleaming obsidian that may resemble a serpent, but as far as actual archaeological evidence is concerned, the oldest prosthetic device is likely the Cairo toe at three thousand year old wooden toe from ancient Egypt, retrieved from the foot of a priest's daughter entombed in an
acropolis near lux Or, Egypt. It is a well crafted wooden replica of the big toe belt strapped to the foot in a manner that was clearly meant to be both aesthetically pleasing and functional. The toe show signs of use and where meaning that was not a purely funerary edition. A two thousand and twelve study from the University of Manchester created replicas of this and a similar Egyptian toe pros thesis from the first millennium b C in order
to test their functionality. They found that the absence of a big toe would have made traditional Egyptian sandals of the day difficult and uncomfortable to wear, but that the toe pros thesis made walking in these sandals far more comfortable.
The ancient Egyptians applied a great deal of their ingenuity to death and the afterlife, but in the Cairo toe we see an example of their expertise applied to the world of the living, though of course, from a religious perspective, the Cairo toe would have served the important function of ensuring comfortable mobility, not only in this world, but in the realms beyond death as well. Tune into additional editions of the artifact each week, hosted by either Joe or myself.
As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.