This isn't "new" news; the skeleton was discovered in 2006 - but I just got the memo, so to speak.
It has a hemispherical form and a diameter of just over 2.5 cm (1 inch). It consists of very light material, probably bitumen paste. The surface of the artificial eye is covered with a thin layer of gold, engraved with a central circle (representing the iris) and gold lines patterned like sun rays. The female remains found with the artificial eye was 1.82 m tall (6 feet), much taller than ordinary women of her time. On both sides of the eye are drilled tiny holes, through which a golden thread could hold the eyeball in place. Since microscopic research has shown that the eye socket showed clear imprints of the golden thread, the eyeball must have been worn during her lifetime. The woman's skeleton has been dated to between 2900 and 2800 BCE.
To be quite honest, when I first saw the photo my knee-jerk reaction was that it was depicting The Death of a Squash Player. But this is even more fascinating. She must have been absolutely stunning - 6 feet tall with a golden eye.
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