When cleaning up ruins or ancient tombs, experts often find "cultural relics" with research value, and their appearance provides a physical basis for future generations to study the history and culture of the time. In 2000, cultural relics experts unearthed a copper hand in Yin Xu Garden Village, and after research, they actually judged that the copper hand was the earliest prosthetic leg in China. Today, Xiaobian will reveal the secret to you:
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In December 2000, the Anyang team of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences received news that they were going to conduct on-site exploration in the east of Huayuanzhuang Village because of the construction of the local area. Before the formal construction, the relevant departments should determine whether there are ancient tombs or ruins in the area. In the course of their work, the team discovered that there were indeed ancient tombs, and what surprised them most was that the scale of the tombs found was still very large, and after discussion, they decided to carry out protective excavations of the tombs.
With the continuous advancement of archaeological work, the staff unearthed a large number of objects, such as bronze, jade, pottery, bone ware, etc. According to the excavated cultural relics, the staff believes that it is a tomb of the Shang Dynasty. In Tomb No. 54, the staff found a coffin, because of the relatively old age, so the wooden board corruption is more serious, but you can still see the original appearance of the coffin, the coffin lid is red paint, the pattern is very exquisite, surrounded by gold leaf, and the bottom of the coffin is covered with cinnabar.
When cleaning up tomb No. 54, the staff found a "strange" funerary item, this funerary product is a copper hand shaped instrument, its shape is like a person's right hand, five fingers and people's five fingers, of which the thumb is relatively short, the middle finger is relatively long and thin, these five fingers are curved in shape, as if to open, the most incredible thing is that the knuckles of the copper hand shaper are clearly visible, which is definitely a rare artifact. However, the purpose of this artifact is unknown.
In order to solve the mystery of the use of the "copper hand shaped instrument", the cultural relics experts decided to start from the identity of the tomb owner. From the perspective of the scale of the tomb and the style of the coffin, the identity of the tomb owner must not be simple, coupled with the scars of the tomb owner's bones, as well as the funerary products found in the tomb, there are a large number of weapons, so experts believe that the tomb owner is a senior military general, it is likely to be injured or disabled due to illness in the war, so he let the craftsman create a prosthetic hand for himself, that is, the "copper hand shaped instrument" found in the tomb is most likely a prosthetic leg.
After experts cracked the use of the "copper hand shape device", they began to think about whether the "copper hand shape device" was used by the tomb owner before death, or used for burial after death, if this artifact is a living object, it can be concluded that it is a prosthesis, but how this prosthesis is connected to the body, or a problem worth exploring, but it must be a practical prosthesis, if it is used for burial after the tomb owner dies, then this artifact is a decorative prosthesis.
Ancient wars are very cruel, war all rely on cold weapons, and every time a battle is fought, there will be countless deaths and injuries, the medical level at that time is limited, which will directly lead to the loss of combat effectiveness of soldiers, if the injuries are more serious, there may be a need for amputation, at this time, even if they survive, they can only be forced to return home early, and the prosthetic limbs found in the ancient tombs represent the trauma brought by the war to people. In contrast, we who live in modern times are very happy, because we are all in peacetime, and modern prosthetics will also bring greater convenience to those who need them.
If the "copper hand shaped instrument" found in the ancient tomb of Yin Xu Garden Village is an ancient prosthesis, then it is the earliest prosthetic in history?