hand with a knife. Scientists investigating the skeleton, which was found in a Longobard cemetery in Povegliano Veronese, estimated that the man had lived sometime between the 6th and 8th centuries AD. Materials found near the man's body suggest that the knife prosthesis was attached with a leather strap, which he repeatedly tightened with his teeth. During the Renaissance, prosthetics developed with the use of iron, steel, copper, and wood. Functional prosthetics began to make an appearance in the 1500s. Technology progress before the 20th century An Italian surgeon recorded the existence of an amputee who had an arm that allowed him to remove his hat, open his purse, and sign his name. Improvement in amputation surgery and prosthetic design came at the hands of Ambroise Paré. Among his inventions was an above-knee device that was a kneeling peg leg and foot prosthesis with a fixed position, adjustable harness, and knee lock control. The functionality of his advancements showed how future prosthetics could develop. Other major improvements before the modern era: Pieter Verduyn – First non-locking below-knee (BK) prosthesis. James Potts – Prosthesis made of a wooden shank and socket, a steel knee joint and an articulated foot that was controlled by catgut tendons from the knee to the ankle. Came to be known as "Anglesey Leg" or "Selpho Leg". Sir James Syme – A new method of ankle amputation that did not involve amputating at the thigh. Benjamin Palmer – Improved upon the Selpho leg. Added an anterior spring and concealed tendons to simulate natural-looking movement. Dubois Parmlee – Created prosthetic with a suction socket, polycentric knee, and multi-articulated foot. Marcel Desoutter & Charles Desoutter – First aluminium prosthesis Henry Heather Bigg, and his son Henry Robert Heather Bigg, won the Queen's command to provide "surgical appliances" to wounded soldiers after Crimea War. They developed arms that allowed a double arm amputee to crochet, and a hand that felt natural to others based on ivory, felt and leather. At the end of World War II, the NAS (National Academy of Sciences) began to advocate better research and development of prosthetics. Through government funding, a research and development program was developed within the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Veterans Administration. Lower extremity modern history After the Second World War a team at the University of California, Berkeley including James Foort and C.W. Radcliff helped to develop the quadrilateral socket