that depends on what you count as civilisation-i prefer the strict definition that limits civilization to settled people, and with this in mind, the forst civilizations were found in the middle east, in the preceramic neolithic period(about 8k b.c). however, when i mentioned the term in my last post, i was thinking about an actual state, encompassing more than a few tribes, united under single place of rule, able to sustain large settlements, like in the middle east. in europe many cultures were able to large'ish settlements, but they seemd to be lacking a single unified rulership, instead always remiaing as divided tribes or tribal groups(its entirely possible that there were such groups, but no trace was left of it, so we can't be certain)
well, actually human sacrifice was a rather widespread thing at the time iirc, so i wouldn't blame it on propaganda entirely.
