In another other thread I've searched about this topic it was stated that the most likely cradles of civilisation are the four old world regions that played host to them in OTL, namely the Fertile Crescent, Egypt, Indus and Huang He due to their favourable conditions (Aztecs/Inca came later and deviated from the norm in terms of not being based around rivers to my knowledge). But it was also mentioned that Mississippi might have had cradle potential if things went differently.
Is this true or are there other plausible areas where civilisations could have evolved first? What about other river civilisations, such as the Amazon? Would the river have been too tropical to evolve the first civilisation, or could it be possible? Why not Yangtze instead of the Yellow River for China's beginnings? Could even the Rio de la Plata/Congo/Mekong/Niger/Murray river regions potentially lay host to something early and advanced in an ATL? Russia has a lot of rivers but I suppose those areas would be too cold and difficult to start an early civilisation. Could an early civilisation be non-river based? Thoughts?