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The Oldest Artificial Eye

The oldest artificial eye in the world belongs to an Iranian woman that discovered in the ancient city government in the burning city of 6,000 years ago. Shahr-i Sukhta or the “Burnt City” is one of the symbols of great civilization of Sistan and Baluchistan where is moreover to being an ancient city, is one of the largest ancient cities on the Iranian plateau.

Oldest Artificial Eye

The Oldest Artificial Eye , Shahr-i Sukhta , Iran Destination

World’s First Skull Surgery and the First Artificial Eye!

Archaeologists discovered the skeleton of a girl during excavations in Shahr-i Sukhta in 1976. The operation is a deep triangular incision visible in the right part of the skull, and researchers believe that the skull is an operation to treat “hydrocephalus” on the skull.

Research on the skull shows that the patient has died few months after the operation and the cause of his death is not clear. Anyway, the skull is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in history.

Archaeological researches show that this artificial eye belongs to a woman between the age of 28 to 32 years, who was not a rich person because of the simple vessels discovered in the grave. In addition, the archaeologists discovered a leather frame with an artificial eye in the grave.

This eye was made of bitumen mixed with some kind of animal fat, and on this artificial eye the smallest capillaries in the eyeball is with gold wire less than half a millimeter in diameter. This artificial eye is now in the Museum of Southeast Asia in Zahedan.

Hamoun Lake and Civilization

According to archaeologists, the burnt city covers an area of ​​280 hectares, and its remains show that the city has five main parts, including the residential part located northeast of the burnt city; Central sections; Industrial Zone; It is a monument and a cemetery that are located in a series of hills and attached to each other. Eighty hectares of the burnt city are residential. The ancient site of the burnt city is about 18 meters above ground level.

Research has shown that this area, unlike now that the environment is completely desert and only turmeric trees can be seen there, in five thousand years BC green and fertile areas with diverse and very desirable vegetation and the trees of willow, maple and poplar are insane.

What it could be then?

However, Hamoun Lake was a large and watery lake in 3200 BC and was fed by several permanent rivers such as Helmand, and now more or less Helmand and other rivers often feed on the lake seasonally; However, the excessive drop in water in these rivers due to non-compliance with the protocols between the two neighboring countries, Iran and Afghanistan, and the improper withdrawal of water inside Afghanistan has caused the dryness of Lake Hamoon and the surrounding areas.

There were vast reeds around Hamoun Lake at that time. Excavations also show that strong irrigation streams and tributaries branched off. Surveys of the area around the burnt city have found the bed of various streams and waterways that can be thought to have supplied water to the city’s farms.

Oldest Artificial Eye

Shahr-i Sukhta , Balochistan

Where is Shahr-i Sukhta, the Burnt City?

Sistan and Balochistan as a main center of civilization in the eastern part of Iran plateau, is valuable not only for understanding the origins of the culture and civilization of the Iranian plateau, but also for exploring the cultural, social and economic relations between the old cultures and civilizations.

The burnt city of Sistan was undoubtedly one of the most advanced cities of its time. This point can be seen not only in the remains of architectural works and delicate handicrafts and industrial works, but also in the social organization of the city.

For further research, Italian scientists contacted Soviet archaeologists excavating in Turkmenistan. Careful research by Soviet archaeologists confirmed the relationship between the people of the burnt city and the people of Turkmenistan in the early third millennium BC.

The burnt city of Sistan and the Oldest Artificial Eye

The burnt city of Sistan had a regular and orderly organization. Remains show that in this city during the third millennium BC, it had a regular system of water supply and sewage disposal. However, in the first stage of archeological excavations, regular alleys and houses in the burnt city and water and sewage piping with clay pipes were found, which indicates the existence of civic planning in the burnt city of Sistan.

The subcontinent of India and Central Asia with the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia is another important factor, since without an understanding of the civilization status of this part of Iran, the identification of the social and economic relations of the old world is indeed incomplete.

The discoveries

An artificial eye was found for the first time in the burned city. Preliminary studies have shown that the large-eyed left-handed woman buried in Tomb No. 6705 was artificial. The same studies show that abscesses can be seen under the arch of the woman.

Due to the long time that the lower part of this artificial eye has been in contact with the eyelid, the organic effects of the eyelid are also visible on it. The material with which the eye is made has not yet been carefully elucidated and its diagnosis has been postponed to further experiments, but it seems that the eye is made of an abnormal material mixed with some kind of animal fat.

Oldest Artificial Eye

The Oldest Artificial Eye , Shahr-i Sukhta , Balochistan

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