Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—Researchers report genetic evidence clarifying the origin of the European Huns. The origin of the Huns, who arrived in Europe in the 370s, had previously been linked to the Xiongnu nomadic group of the Mongolian steppe. However, little historical and archaeological evidence exists to bridge the 300-year gap between the fall of the Xiongnu empire and the appearance of the Huns. Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone and colleagues analyzed archaeological evidence alongside genomic data for 370 people*. The genomic data came from people in the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE Xiongnu period in the Mongolian steppe; the 5th–6th century CE Hun period in the Carpathian Basin, including some rare burials exhibiting cultural connections to the steppe; and the intervening 2nd–5th century CE period across central Asia. The authors found high genetic diversity among people across the Eurasian steppe. The findings suggest a mixed origin of the Hun-period population, with no evidence of a large steppe descent community living in the Carpathian Basin during this period. However, some of the Hun- and post-Hun-period individuals carried genetic lineages linking them to elites of the Xiongnu empire. Although the Xiongnu are likely not the principal ancestors of the Hun-period population, some Huns were likely descended from Xiongnu, according to the authors.
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Article Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences news release.
*“Ancient genomes reveal trans-Eurasian connections between the European Huns and the Xiongnu Empire,” by Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 24-Feb-2025. https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2418485122
Image, Top Left: Roman villa in Gaul sacked by the hordes of Attila the Hun. GRochegrosse, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
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