Origins of the Areth
Due to the ambiguity of archaeological evidence, the origins of the Areth are shrouded in doubt, and while the Marcasian Theory of Origin has gained widespread currency both in academic circles and among the general public, much of it relies on inference, deduction and intelligent hypothesis to fill in the gaps left by archaeology, or the deficiencies thereof. For that reason, a vocal minority prefers the alternative Arophanian Theory, which, while entirely based on solid archaeological evidence, suffers from its proponents' disregard of certain suggestive possibilities that are not as well-attested.
Common ground
Fossils unearthed in Eoris establish the time-frame of early habitation in present-day Audoria as approximately 1.2 million years ago, and mitochondrial DNA dating has conclusively affirmed that the first modern humans in Audoria lived approximately 67,000 years ago as hunter-gatherers. While the existence 10,000 years ago of several advanced sedentary, rice-growing culturesis not disputed due to the strength of the evidence (see Marija culture), those cultures are not considered distinctly Arithide. The oldest artefacts believed to indicate the emergence of a discrete Arithide identity are pottery shards found in northeastern Arophania dating back 6,000 years.
Current archaeological excavations have uncovered
Marcasian Theory of Origin
While specific details of the theory may vary depending on the conservativeness of the source, proponents of this view generally believe that the Areth first arose as a distinctive ethnicity (Arithide: kyteos) as the sedentary, agricultural Erda culture in the narrow coastal region of Erdia, drained by the lower reaches and delta of the river Or, over six millenia ago. The Erda were in turn descended ultimately from the hunter-gatherers who had settled in southwest Marcasia approximately 1.2 million years ago. Hemmed in by the Chisthian Sea and the Iryag, the Erda peoples faced, from the beginning, very visible limits to the the land and its fertility, and such persistent population and food pressures led to successive waves of emigration, some northwards over the Iryag into the Marcasian interior, but most were headed south across the Chisthian, the easier route by far for a fishing people. This so-called Southerly Movement, by which the Areth came to settle in northeastern Arophania, emptied their homeland in Erdia, but attritionally established a number of other settlements—notably the Nuroi, Pisa and Duvai cultures—along the way.
