What we could do, of course, is start with Un-Named Pre-Urban 'Tribal' Groups and have them develop their 'uniques' based on how far, how long, and where they wander before settling down. Humankind sort of tried this with their Neolithic Start, but frankly, didn't seem to have followed through on its potential: while wandering you could not develop any Civic or Social Policy differences, no new ways of doing things (Pottery, Weaving, Archery and Boating as Technologies all precede the first city-building by thousands of years), not even any new ways of fighting. Which meant that Humankind's 'start' was really a Pre-Start, because nothing much important happened except scouting until you advanced to the first 'Era' and selected a Civ to play based on virtually nothing you had already done.
I think that could have been much, much better done. Have the 'Neolithic' (or Paleolithic) wanderers get a chance to develop some Technologies, some Civic/Social policies, maybe even some special attributes to their religious practices (like, building Gobekli Tepe or one of the early wooden 'Henges' whose remains dot northern Europe) so that the 'choice' of which Civ they become on First City Founding is to some extent determined by what went before and where they wound up. And if you really, really want to play the game's version of the Phoenicians then you'd better 'wander' towards the coast or you may wind up with some very Un-Punic Uniques indeed!