5,000 Year Old Fake Eye (ca. 3,000 BC) – Part 3/7

By: The Scribe on May, 2007

A burial near the “Burnt City” in ancient Persia has yielded a 5,000 year old artificial eye from the skeleton of a 25-30 year old female. During her life, she stood around 6 feet tall, which would have made her head and shoulders above most other women during this time. Skeletal analysis revealed that she possessed a sharp jaw line and a high, sloping forehead; evidence from eyelid tissues left on the artificial eye give evidence of her dark skin and thus, she was likely of Arabian background.

Although excavators first thought it was possible that the eye was placed on the body at burial, forensic examination showed an imprint that was caused on her left eye socket by prolonged contact with the golden eye.

While the eye was not intended to imitate a real eye, even the most delicate eye capillaries were drawn on the eyeball using gold wires less than half a millimeter thick. Other lines around the engraved pupil form a diamond, and two holes were drilled on the sides of the eyeball through which thread could be strung to hold it in the woman’s eye socket. Though obviously not a real eye, the gold coating on the eye would have caused it to shine brightly – and when combined with her startling height, the woman would have been highly effective at convincing others of her supernatural powers, such as those of a soothsayer or an oracle.

The grave also contained an ornate bronze hand mirror, which gives further weight to the idea of this woman’s role as a prophetess. It is possible that she visited the “Burnt City” with a caravan, as it was a busy and wealthy trade city during the time of her death ca. 2900 BC.

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