Archaeologists working at the Burnt City in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran discovered an artificial eye belonging to a large woman who died when she was 25 to 30 year old. This rare discovery at the 5200-year-old site throws light on the depth of medical advancements made by the ancient civilization in their times.
It is still not clear what material was used to construct the eye, but it seems that it has been made of natural tar mixed with animal fat.
The thinnest capillaries on the eyeball have been made with golden wires with a thickness of less than one millimeter. The pupil of the eye has been placed in the center of the eyeball and some parallel lines forming an almond pattern are seen around the pupil. The eyeball has two holes in its two sides, which were used for fixing the eye to the eye socket.
It is unimaginable to even begin to think how they achieved so much without even a bare necessity as electricity.
Covering an area of 150 hectares, the site was one of the world’s largest cities at the dawn of the urban era. It was built circa 3200 BC and destroyed some time around 2100 BC. The city had four stages of civilization and was burnt down three times. Since it was not rebuilt after the last time it was burnt down, it has been named the Burnt City.
Studies are currently underway to glean more information about the woman.
Excavation of such sites and their discoveries make us wonder the heights that our mankind would have reached, had the many civilizations not been regularly destroyed by our evil deeds.
Via: Tehran Times
