One morning, working alone in the attic, I came across some boxes of skeletons that had been dug up from a monastery. I was soon to be reminded of a lecture given by anthropologist Margaret Mead, who spent much of her life studying primitive cultures. She asked the question, “What is the earliest sign of civilization?” A clay pot? Iron? Tools? Agriculture? No, she claimed. To her, evidence of the earliest true civilization was a healed femur, a leg bone, which she held up before us in the lecture hall. She explained that such healings were never found in the remains of competitive, savage societies. There, clues of violence abounded: temples pierced by arrows, skulls crushed by clubs. But the healed femur showed that someone must have cared for the injured person - hunted on his behalf, brought him food, and served him at persona! sacrifice. Savage societies could not afford such pity.

Source: The surgeon Paul Brand's Christian memoir

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan), p.68, 1980

Photos: Margaret Mead, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Human left femur, Tell Fara, Palestine, 100 BCE-200 CE / CC-BY-4.0