What was life like in regions like soon-to-be-sumeria and soon-to-be-egypt before they were considered civilizations ? And at what point were loose groups of small towns with a similar cultural background no longer seen as that, but as a civilization. Were the people living at that time aware of that change ?
I might be able to answer this, but I guess I would need some clarification first. First, do you mean in general what was life like in regions shortly before the development of state level societies? Or are you looking specifically into these two regions alone?