: Does anyone know the language being spoken by the boy in the first sequence?
: I'm trying to narrow this down to a time/place in human history, but
: without knowing the language spoken all I've got as a clue are the hyenas,
: which could place this anywhere in Africa, the Middle East, or South Asia.

Halopedia says it's Arabic. So I guess it is supposed to be the Levant? nut I'm not sure if tha is true that means you can take it to be relatively recent (since they are not speaking some ancient dialect.)