Assuming the soul is untrapped and willing, and the creature is indeed dead, if a character casts Resurrection on the severed hand of a dead creature, what memories does that creature have (i.e. from the time it died or from the time its hand was lost)? What physical age would it be?
Inspired by comments on: How bad of bodily damage can Raise Dead cure?
Best Answer
You have a new friend. Assuming the "if its soul is free and willing" part (e.g. it isn't alive somewhere else in a body that is just missing a hand, or it isn't happy in the plane of its afterlife, or trapped in a Magic Jar or Soul Gem, etc.) you should get a complete person with all its memories and skills. Clearly, if you haven't done any research, it's kind of a crapshoot -- maybe your new friend is Albert Schweitzer, but maybe it's Vlad the Impaler.
Resurrection "... closes all mortal wounds and restores any missing body parts." The only requirements are that it be "dead for no more than a century", that it "didn’t die of old age", "isn’t undead", and "its soul is free and willing".