20/12/2024
️️At a conference, a college student asked anthropologist Margaret Mead, what she considered to be the oldest sign of civilization in a culture.
The student expected Mead to talk about spears, clay pots or grinding stones. But no, Mead responded that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur that had been broken and then healed.
Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break a leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, go to the river for a drink or for food. You are easy prey to predators and plunderers. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken and healed femur is evidence that someone took the job of staying with who broke it, tightened the wound, carried it to safety, and helped recover. Mead said helping someone in need is where the civilization of our species begins.
11/10/2022