During a lecture given by anthropologist Margaret Mead, a student asked her what she thought was the first sign of civilization in a culture. The boy, along with his colleagues, expected that she would mention weapons, pots or grindstones, all things related to early survival.
And instead, Margaret Mead, gave an unexpected answer, which certainly opened a whole series of reflections that last until today. The anthropologist, in fact, replied that the first sign of civilization of a culture was a broken femur, then healed thanks to the presence of others.
The teacher, to explain her theory, made a comparison with the animal kingdom. When a wolf, or any other animal, breaks a leg, it dies. The chances of him surviving so the bone heals on its own are unlikely. He can’t go to the river and drink or wander around looking for food. It is motionless and at the mercy of fate it may become the food of other predators.
A broken femur that has healed is proof that someone took the time to be with the one who fell, blindfolded his wound, took him to a safe place and helped him recover.
Skeletons with fractured femurs date back as far as 15,000 years and suggest that not only people with broken femurs survived the injury, but that others, maybe friends or family have probably risked their lives to protect them to take care of their needs.
For Margaret Med: "The first step towards civilization is an act of human compassion and becomes the foundation of all the great achievements of humanity. Helping someone else in trouble is where civilization begins".
What do you think?
I don’t agree. Compassion has NEVER been a human trait. It is true that some Neanderthals helped others but agriculture was the end of empathetic civilizations.
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