Clay vessels, ornamental beads, a leather sack and a bronze mirror were also found in her grave.
Michael Harris, a senior lecturer in optometry at the University of California at Berkeley, said the objects, as well as the effort it must have taken to prepare and fit the woman for the artificial eye, suggest she was a member of the elite.
"It's unlikely such attention and effort would have been paid to a commoner," Harris said. "She may have been a member of a royal family or an otherwise wealthy individual."
Harris said the primary reason for the artificial eyeball would not have been medical.
"She could have worn a patch, but perhaps her family wanted her to look her best for public appearances," he explained.
He added that "it's amazing how advanced some scientists were in the past at coming up with creative, innovative solutions to problems."
Archaeologists continue to work at the Burnt City site, which has also offered up the world's oldest dice and backgammon game, the earliest known caraway seed and the world's oldest "animated picture," which was drawn around an earthenware bowl.
