progress or regress?

Looks like ancient Roman laborers were more civilized than some people today.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080610/ap_on_re_eu/italy_ancient_laborers;_ylt=ArRj6w2tu6iHndAp9lFfpNVvieAA

By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 9, 8:41 PM ET
ROME - First-century burial grounds near Rome's main airport are yielding a rare look into how ancient longshoremen and other manual workers did backbreaking jobs, archaeologists said Monday.
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Also excavated was a skeleton of a man whose lower jaw was fused to his upper jaw.

Study indicated "how for all of his life this individual was fed, likely through the care of his family" with liquids or semisolids "introduced through a hole made through his teeth," the archaeology statement said.

The man lived into his 30s, a decent age at the time. Experts took that as evidence that the lower classes cared for the disabled.