The concept "cradle of civilization" is the subject of much debate. The figurative use of cradle to mean "the place or region in which anything is nurtured or sheltered in its earlier stage" is traced by the Oxford English Dictionary

 ...

The earliest signs of a process leading to sedentary culture can be seen in the Levant to as early as 12,000 BC, when the Natufian culturebecame sedentary; it evolved into an agricultural society by 10,000 BC. The importance of water to safeguard an abundant and stable food

 ...

A traditional theory of the spread of civilization is that it began in the Fertile Crescentand spread out from there by influence. Scholars more

 ...

Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia
Around 10,200 BC the first fully developed Neolithic cultures belonging to the phases Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7600 to 6000 BC) appeared in the

 ...

There is academic consensus that Classical Greece was the seminal culture that provided the foundation of modern Western culture, democracy, art, theatre, philosophy, and science. For this reason it is known as the cradle of Western Civilization. Along with

 ...

The following timeline shows a timeline of cultures, with the approximate dates of the emergence of civilization (as discussed in the article) in the featured areas, the primary cultures

 ...

• Chronology of the ancient Near East
• Cradle of Humankind
• Human history
• Civilization state
• Skara Brae and Barnhouse Settlement 3180 BC.

 ...