Evrim Yazgin
Cosmos science journalist
Analysis of ancient DNA has shed light on the origins and diversity of the Hun empire, revealing far-reaching genetic ties.
The Huns suddenly appeared in Europe in the 370s CE. The influential but short-lived empire extended from Europe to the Caucasus and Central Asia until the 6th century.
As world-leading historian of Central Asia Denis Sinor wrote in The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia: “No people of Inner Asia, not even the Mongols, have acquired in European historiography a notoriety similar to that of the Huns, whose name has become synonymous with that of cruel, destructive invaders.”
“There are several reasons why the Huns caught the Western imagination
“Firstly, not since Scythian times [900–200 BCE] had any Inner Asian people seriously challenged the equilibrium of the Western World.” The Hun, Sinor added, exacerbated inner turmoil across the Roman Empire, and were instrumental in great migrations of peoples across Europe.
But where the Hun came from has remained a mystery for centuries. They come to Europe seemingly out of the blue.
It has been suggested that they were descended from the Xiongnu Empire. But this confederation of nomadic peoples of Central and East Asia dissolved around the year 100 CE – leaving a near-300-year gap between the Xiongnu and the Hun.
To address the question of where the Hun came from, scientists analysed the ancient DNA of 370 individuals that lived in the Mongolian steppe, Central Asia, and the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe (centred in modern-day Hungary).
Findings from the analysis are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
The ancient individuals span about 800 years of history from the 2nd century BCE to 6th century CE.
Among them were 35 newly sequenced genomes. These included DNA from a 3rd–4th century site in Kazakhstan and 5th–6th century sites in the Carpathian Basin. Some of the Carpathian sites exhibit Hun burials with Eastern or “steppe” traits often linked to nomadic traditions.
The team compared DNA from the individuals to identify shared segments known as identical-by-descent (IBD).
The researchers didn’t find large Asian- or steppe-descended communities living in the Carpathian Basin after the Huns’ arrival. But a small group of individuals – often belonging to the “eastern-type” burials – did carry significant East Asian genetic signatures.
“It came as a surprise to discover that few of these Hun-period individuals in Europe share IBD links with some of the highest-ranking imperial elite individuals from the late Xiongnu Empire,” says co-first author Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
Some of the European Huns traced their lineage back to important late Xiongnu burials from the Mongolian steppe. But most Hun and post-Hun individuals in the Carpathian Basin were far more diverse.
“DNA and archaeological evidence reveal a patchwork of ancestries, pointing to a complex process of mobility and interaction rather than a mass migration,” says co-first author Zsófia Rácz of the Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary.
“Although the Huns dramatically reshaped the political landscape, their actual genetic footprint – outside of certain elite burials – remains limited,” adds co-corresponding author Zuzana Hofmanová, also from of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
“From a broader perspective, the study underscores how cutting-edge genetic research, in combination with careful exploration of the archaeological and historical context, can resolve centuries-old debates about the composition and origin of past populations,” says co-corresponding author Johannes Krause at the Max Planck Institute.
