The dig was expanded after the surprise find and that's when the limbs and a French cannonball were found.

Surgeons would use bone saws to amputate limbs without anaesthetic after cutting flaps of skin away from the wound. They would sew the skin flaps over the wound to create a stump and hope their patients did not die of their injuries or shock.

The leg bones, two right legs and one left, were unearthed after a metal detector had shown a large metal object in one of the trenches. One showed catastrophic damage and the other marks from a surgeon’s saw.

"These appear to be the remains of amputated limbs from some of the operations carried out by surgeons," said Professor Tony Pollard, the lead academic on the dig.

“Finding human remains immediately changes the atmosphere on a dig. Suddenly there is a very poignant connection with the people who suffered here in 1815, a connection that has not been lost on the Waterloo Uncovered team of veterans and serving personnel,” he said.