New DNA Study Links European Huns to Xiongnu Empire Elites

New DNA evidence links European Huns to Xiongnu Empire elite

The Xiongnu Empire had dissolved around 100 CE, leaving a 300-year gap before the appearance of the Huns in Europe.

They invaded Europe in the fourth century and penetrated into Roman cities: the Huns pose riddles to historians. Researchers have now studied the origin of the group in more detail.

Origin and diversity of Hun Empire populations

A multidisciplinary and international research project has brought fresh insights into the origins and diversity of the populations that lived under and after the Hun empire between the late 4th and 6th century CE in Central Europe. Combining forefront archaeogenomic analyses with archaeological and historical investigation, the study connects some of the European Hun-period individuals directly to some high-status elite of the earlier Xiongnu E…

Who were the Hun? Diverse genetic ties of an ancient empire

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, h…

Ancient DNA reveals mysterious origins of the Huns who sacked Rome

The origin of the Huns in fourth-century Europe has long been debated, but centuries-old DNA has revealed their diverse backgrounds.

History: Some Huns descended from elites of a Mongolian steppe empire, but much of their DNA came from Europe. They were “more vicious than…