Earliest evidence of amputation

Scientists studying an ancient Egyptian mummy believe they have found the earliest evidence of surgical amputation.

They say that the woman, who died about three thousand years ago, had a toe surgically removed because she was suffering from gangrene.

The toe had been replaced with a carved wooden toe which the scientists say would have allowed her to move around as normal.

The scientists, at the Ludwig-Maximillians University in Munich, in Germany say their find is the earliest evidence of surgical amputation anywhere in the world. The BBC science correspondent says that while archaeologists have found what look like artificial limbs and body parts in Egyptian tombs before, these seem largely to have been of ceremonial significance rather than being of any practical use.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service