Origin of the Hun Empire May Have Been a Patchwork of Ancestries

Members of the fierce nomadic warrior force may have absorbed European DNA during their westward march.

By Paul Smaglik
Feb 24, 2025 8:01 PM
Hun-period “eastern-type” burial
Excavation photo of the Hun-period “eastern-type” burial from Budapest, Népfürdő Street (Hungary). (Credit: © Boglárka Mészáros, BHM Aquincum Museum)

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What makes one a Hun and where did the Huns come from? Historians have long argued these questions about the fierce nomadic fighters who contributed to the fall of the Roman empire and the beginning of the “Dark Ages” in Europe.

One dominant theory about Hunnic origin posits that the equestrian warriors originated in what is now Mongolia, during the Xiongnu Empire. They then swept westward toward Europe, pivoted south through Germany, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

However, there is a 300-year gap before the collapse of the Xiongnu Empire and the Huns appearing in Europe around 370 C.E. Scholars have wondered if DNA evidence could fill that gap, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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