Arden was born in Syracuse, New York, and was raised in Hagerstown, Maryland.

He attended Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, graduating Magna Cum Laude and with departmental honors, achieving his bachelor's degree in Archaeology. He also holds associate degrees in history and psychology.

During college, Arden volunteered with the Friends of Halfway Cemetery to survey and maintain a historic African American cemetery which includes the gravesites of former slaves, civil war and WWI veterans. He also assisted in archaeological field surveys which covered an 19th-early 20th century church and farmstead in Frederick known colloquially as Rocky Springs. His senior thesis offered an archaeological perspective on Western Maryland's hospital system following the Battle of Antietam.

After College, he worked in Cultural Resource Management as a field technician, surveying sites across Maryland and the Capital region, including a Revolutionary War barracks and former Civil War field hospital currently located at the Maryland School for the Deaf.

His hobbies include music production, wildlife photography, pottery, boxing, and mixed martial arts.