Cradle of civilization
The fertile crescent is most cited by Western
and Middle Eastern scholars as the cradle of
civilization.
The cradle of civilization is any of the pos-
sible locations for the emergence of civiliza-
tion. It is usually applied to the Ancient Near
Eastern Chalcolithic (Ubaid period, Naqada
culture), especially in the Fertile Crescent
(Levant and Mesopotamia), but also extended
to sites in Anatolia[1] and the Persian Plat-
eau, besides other Asian cultures situated
along large river valleys, notably the Indus
River in Indian Subcontinent[2] and the Yel-
low River in China.[3]
Civilization is usually taken to presuppose
the presence of agriculture and urban settle-
ments, and as such is a consequence of the
Neolithic Revolution.[4] This entails
that
there isn’t a single "cradle", but several inde-
pendent developments of civilization, of
which the Near Eastern Neolithic was the
first. The extent to which there was signific-
ant influence between the early civilizations
in the Fertile Crescent and East Asia is dis-
puted, while the civilizations of Mesoamerica
are accepted as having emerged independ-
ently from those in Eurasia. If writing is
taken as a prerequisite for civilization, the
earliest "cradle" is Early Dynastic Egypt and
Sumer (Jemdet Nasr).
History of the idea
The concept ’cradle of civilization’ is the sub-
ject of much debate and opinions on this top-
ic vary.
The figurative use of cradle in the sense of
"the place or region in which anything is nur-
tured or sheltered in its earlier stage" is
traced by the OED to Spenser (1590). Rollin’s
Ancient History
(1734) has "Egypt that
served at first as the cradle of the holy
nation."
The phrase "cradle of civilization" plays a
certain role in national mysticism, and has
been employed, for example, in Hindu nation-
alism (In Search of the Cradle of Civilization
1995), Taiwanese nationalism (Taiwan - The
Cradle of Civilization 2002), but also in eso-
teric pseudohistory such as the Urantia Book
claiming the title for "the second Eden" or
p