The Huns - around 450AD

[peccavi]

There seems to be a large amount of ancient DNA research on peoples from the Hungarian Plain.

The origin of the Huns, who caused so much trouble to Germanic Tribes and the Roman Empire, has not been determined, as far as I am aware.

I was wondering if any of the studies have shed any light on this problem and whether DNA can give us a clue - are Huns, ex-tatars, Hsiung-nu, of Chinese legend, Iranian or Turkish or something else?

 

[Alan]

There seems to be a large amount of ancient DNA research on peoples from the Hungarian Plain.

The origin of the Huns, who caused so much trouble to Germanic Tribes and the Roman Empire, has not been determined, as far as I am aware.

I was wondering if any of the studies have shed any light on this problem and whether DNA can give us a clue - are Huns, ex-tatars, Hsiung-nu, of Chinese legend, Iranian or Turkish or something else?

They are mentioned as far back as 1300 BC in the Avesta as Xiaona, an nomad East Iranic tribe living in Central Asia.

The Huns who raided for Europe were basically a tribal confederation made up predominantly the original Huns and Scythians/Massagetaes who had mixed with Mongol and Turkic groups.