European Huns and the Xiongnu Empire

[Геннадий Воля]

 

Ancient genomes reveal trans-Eurasian connections between the European Huns and the Xiongnu Empire

Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6490-8101 guido_gnecchi@eva.mpg.de, Zsófia Rácz zsofia_racz@yahoo.de, Salvatore Liccardo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0863-6591, +24 , and Zuzana Hofmanová zuzana_hofmanova@eva.mpg.deAuthors Info & Affiliations

Edited by Cristina La Rocca, Universita degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy; received September 10, 2024; accepted January 7, 2025 by Editorial Board Member James F. O'Connell

February 24, 2025

 

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2418485122

Significance

Given their historical impact, the question of the origins of the European Huns, who they were and where they came from, has gone beyond scholarly interest and has permeated into cultural consciousness. Since the first theories that associated the Huns with the Xiongnu, academics have extensively researched and debated this topic, never reaching a consensus—except perhaps agreeing that the evidence available is very limited. In this article, we show that archaeogenomic data, if interpreted with careful archaeological and historical contextualization, can be a powerful source of information. We provide new compelling evidence on the origins of the Hun-period population, its considerable diversity and its ties to the steppe and the Xiongnu elites.

[Геннадий Воля]

Furthermore, despite the rich 5th to 6th centuries current era (CE) archaeological record of the Carpathian Basin, the cultural elements of connections with the steppe are limited to few findings and even fewer solitary eastern-type burials.

We find no evidence for the presence of a large eastern/steppe descent community among the Hun- and post-Hun-period Carpathian Basin population. We also observe a high genetic diversity among the eastern-type burials that recapitulates the variability observed across the Eurasian Steppe. 

... even today the origins of the European Huns remain a matter of debate. 

According to most scholars, the names “Xiongnu” and “Huns” are related, although the exact nature of such linguistic connection is debated .

There is little evidence of Huns in the steppe between the end of the Xiongnu Empire and their appearance in Europe, and no discernible political continuity based on the written sources.

The Archaeology of the Carpathian Basin in the Hunnic Period.

The goal of this study is to investigate the potential connections between the Carpathian Basin during and after the Hun period and the populations from the preceding centuries in the Central and Eastern Eurasian Steppe via the analysis of ancient genomic data. Specifically, we want to assess whether it is possible to identify evidence of direct genetic descendants between the Xiongnu period population in the Eastern Eurasian steppe and the Carpathian Basin population during and after the Hun period. 

 

 

 

[Геннадий Воля]

Results

Description o Most of the Carpathian-Basin individuals (shown in blue) from the late 4th to the 6th century do not show any signs of East/Central Asian genetic admixture, carrying only European ancestriesf the Sites and Individuals Selected.

Genomic Composition and Close Relatedness within the Geotemporal Groups.

Most of the Carpathian-Basin individuals (shown in blue) from the late 4th to the 6th century do not show any signs of East/Central Asian genetic admixture, carrying only European ancestries

Nevertheless, our understanding of population shifts in Southern Central Asia during the 4th and 5th centuries is limited because we lack individuals of either steppe-type solitary burials or sites considered to be “Hunnic” (e.g., belonging to the Kidarite or Hephthalite realms). We also found very limited IBD sharing between the other early medieval East Asian sites and individuals from the neighboring Xinjiang region (Fig. 4B and SI Appendix, Fig. S2), suggesting that the amounts of IBD sharing observed between the Carpathian Basin, Central Asia, and Xiongnu period individuals cannot be ascribed to general sharing of East Asian genomic components. 

Overall, the results of this study allow several conclusions about the history of the European Huns. First, the population of the Hun realm in Europe was genetically highly heterogeneous.

Third, we could not establish any substantial direct connections between either the Xiongnu or the European Huns and the region of the Tian Shan and the oasis of Otrar in Southern Kazakhstan.

The European Huns of the 4th to 5th century are temporally more distant to the latest Xiongnu populations of the 1st/2nd centuries, and were genetically and culturally diverse.