This Medieval Man Used a Knife as a Prosthetic Limb

In 1985, archaeologists discovered a medieval necropolis in northern Italy, which, over the years, yielded the remains of 222 individuals. Amid these remains, the skeleton of one adult male stood out because his hand appeared to have been amputated at the mid forearm—a type of traumatic injury that is rarely observed in the archaeological record.

But the story gets even stranger. As George Dvorsky reports for Gizmodo, archaeologists recently re-examined the skeleton and uncovered evidence to suggest that the medieval man relied on an unusual prosthesis in the wake of the amputation: an iron knife.

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(Micarelli et al. 2018)

The man’s limb appears to have been removed by blunt force trauma and a knife was later secured in its stead.

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oooo how cool is that dragon ty for sharing shows just how survival instincts can kick in

Wow impressive. Especially considering the pain relief wouldn't have been anything close to what we have today.
Survival is survival and our natural instincts to survive and improvise with what we have are great


Found this: Source
Throughout 1200 - 1500 A.D. in England, a potion called dwale was used as an anesthetic. This mixture contained bile, opium, lettuce, bryony, and hemlock. Surgeons roused them by rubbing vinegar and salt on their cheekbones.