Huns were a nomadic tribe that had long inhabited the northern regions of ancient China, and they appeared in Chinese historical records as early as the Warring States period. During the Qin and Han dynasties, as their regime became more powerful, they frequently descended to harass the southern regions.
To deal with this, Emperor Qin Shi Huang sent Meng Tian to attack the Huns in the north, forcing them to retreat hundreds of miles, and also built the Great Wall to guard against them. By 133 BC, Emperor Wu of Han changed the policy of forced marriage that had been in place for decades, then sent Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to repeatedly defeat the Huns in the south of the desert, the Hexi Corridor, and the north of the desert, achieving a victory at Langjuxu, severely weakening the Huns' strength. However, even after experiencing various internal wars and divisions, the Huns still posed a threat to the Han dynasty, a situation that lasted until the end of the first century AD, when Han general Dou Xian greatly defeated the Northern Huns, carved a stone inscription on Yanshan Mountain, and the Northern Chanyu fled beyond the desert.
From then on, the Huns, who had been in confrontation with the Qin and Han dynasties for nearly three centuries, reached a turning point in Chinese history. The Southern Huns, who had submitted to the Han dynasty for nearly half a century, became even more prosperous, continuously migrated inward, and gradually integrated with the Han people. Meanwhile, the Northern Huns faded from Chinese history. According to the "Book of the Later Han," after their escape, they disappeared without a trace, leaving a mystery for future generations.
Discovering the Descendants of the Huns
However, over a thousand eight hundred years later, during the social atmosphere of late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, inspired by Western theories, Chinese scholars suddenly realized where the Northern Huns had gone. For example, Zhang Taiyan in his work "On the Migration of the Huns to Europe" believed that "the Huns driven by the Han all moved into Europe," and "the present Hungary is the phonetic transformation of the Huns." Liang Qichao in his "Methods of Chinese Historical Research" further stated that "the remnants of the Huns who were driven westward by Dou Xian" arrived in Europe, causing great fear across Europe, not only triggering the migration of European ethnic groups but also leading to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, opening up a "millennium of darkness," showing how interconnected human history is, where one small change can have a major impact. Although East and West are far apart, their mutual influence is significant.
Such research directly influenced the understanding of the migration of the Huns in the 20th century. It was very popular to say that the Hungarians were descendants of the Huns. However, since the mid-20th century, some scholars have begun to question the theory of the Huns' migration to Europe to varying degrees, arguing that the Huns who suddenly appeared in Europe in the 370s may not be the same nation as the Huns. But due to the two hundred years of history between them, and the lack of complete historical records on both sides of Asia and Europe to support this migration process, the debate continues to this day.
At sunset, several friends gathered on a street in Budapest, Hungary. Visual China | Photo
Recently, an ancient DNA study, through the comparison of genomic data obtained from Hun and Huns tombs, combined with related archaeological findings, systematically revealed the connection across Eurasia from the Huns to the Huns, providing more concrete evidence that some European Huns have a certain blood relationship with the Huns, indeed being descendants of the Huns, but overall, the Huns were not simply migrated from the Huns, and their internal gene composition is extremely complex.
The nearly three hundred ancient DNA samples relied upon for this discovery are spread across the vast land of Eurasia. According to geographical location and time, their sources can be divided into three categories, from east to west, namely the Mongolian grasslands during the time of the Huns from 209 BC to 98 AD, Central Asia from the 2nd to 6th centuries, and the Carpathian Basin from the late 4th to 6th centuries. The relevant research was published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" in February 2025.
The Carpathian Basin, located in Central Europe, is surrounded by mountains such as the Alps and the Carpathians, with the Danube River flowing through it. Now, its outer areas include parts of the territories of Serbia, Romania, and Ukraine, while the central part of the basin is today's location of Hungary. One thousand six hundred years ago, the Huns who came west established a powerful regime that threatened the Roman Empire, centered around the basin.
"Specifically regarding the connection with the Huns, we found direct genetic descendants of the highest level individuals from the Hun era among the population during the European Hun period, who lived about 300 years later, approximately 7000 kilometers west of that time." Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology involved in this study, told the Southern Weekend reporter. Even so, overall, the population under the rule of the Huns showed a high degree of cultural and genetic diversity, with different western Eurasian, Central Asian, and East Asian genetic components mixed together.
The Huns Were a Minority in the Population
This is also reflected in the location and characteristics of different source tombs. For example, in the latest study, more than thirty tombs from the Hun period are scattered in the eastern part of the Eurasian steppe, including the tombs of late Hun nobles, local nobles, and ordinary people, while the tombs from Central Asia are also widely distributed, coming from the southern Tianshan region, the ancient Kangju state, and the northern grasslands, with more than sixty ancient DNA samples already having clearly different archaeological backgrounds. However, in the smaller Carpathian Basin, the background of the more than one hundred samples from this period is more complex.
Among them, there are the late Sarmatian tombs that arrived earlier, dating back to the 4th to early 5th centuries, as well as the row tombs of the Gepids that rapidly replaced the Hun empire after the collapse of the Hun empire in the second half of the 5th century to the 6th century. However, although the rule of the Hun empire was short-lived, during the turbulent times of the Carpathian Basin, some typical Hun-style tombs from the Hun period were left behind.
"We believe that the organizational core of the European Hun empire originated from the East, but most of the population was not from this group," said Zsófia Rácz, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, explaining, "This can also be traced through archaeological findings. Because only a few tombs show the characteristics of the steppe. Their features are individual burials, sometimes accompanied by horse bones, horse gear, and weapons as grave goods. The tombs are always oriented from north to south, with food and drink offerings placed near the head. However, most of the findings do not follow this pattern."
Zsófia Rácz, who has long studied issues of migration archaeology and is also a main participant in the latest study, told the Southern Weekend reporter that in the early stages of the Hun empire, the customs and burial traditions of the Romans and Sarmatians existed, and some new settlements and cemeteries were also established. However, these were mostly poor cemeteries oriented from west to east. These cemeteries were usually the burial grounds of late Roman and various Germanic origin small communities, not those of Eastern bloodline groups.
According to archaeological findings, compared to the steppe-style tombs similar to the Hun burial customs, the Carpathian Basin under the rule of the Huns showed some new cultural characteristics. In addition to the tombs oriented from north to south, small cemeteries could be widely seen, as well as the use of various brooches, combs, and other items as grave goods, indicating that after the mix in the 5th century, the local population had an impact on the culture of that time.
Even the feature of tombs oriented from north to south is not exclusive to certain Hun groups. From a larger spatial perspective, many groups in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, whether related or unrelated, also have this cultural phenomenon, indicating that this Eastern influence was not suddenly shifted through the path of the Huns alone, but rather through a larger network of transmission. This characteristic is also corroborated by genetic research.
A Bloodline Network Across Eurasia
By comparing the three types of genetic samples spanning Eurasia, researchers were surprised to find that, despite limited genomic data, they discovered a genetic network composed of nearly a hundred people across a wide space. These people, although coming from different times and places, such as the Mongolian grasslands during the late Hun period, the Central Asian steppes from the 3rd to 5th centuries, and the Carpathian Basin from the late 4th to 6th centuries, shared the same DNA fragments to varying degrees and had a common ancestor. This trans-Eurasian genetic connection was largely linked by a few tombs in Central Asia, connecting people on both sides.
Subsequently, the researchers conducted modeling analysis on the shared lineage between the Huns and the European Huns and found that, including two Hun nobles, some late Huns in the samples were either direct ancestors of some European Huns or had only a few generations of difference in their lineage. It is estimated that a few Hun nobles continued to migrate over long distances within a few generations, spreading their blood from Asia to Europe. As to why the upper class had more shared lineages, it might be related to the steppe clan marriage system and the fact that noble elites had more resources and offspring, thus their genes were passed on more widely and for longer periods.
According to historical records of the Hun society, the Huns placed great importance on blood relations. Not only did political power pass through blood relations, but marriage relationships also had clear clan boundaries. Under the patriarchal system, not only did women in marriages come from outside the clan, but also the practice of marrying within the clan became a social norm. If a father died, the son would marry the mother; if a brother died, the wife could be inherited, ensuring that the bloodline was maintained and continued within the clan.
For the upper class, polygamy became more common, and a woman could successively become the wife of the father, son, or brother, objectively making the bloodline of the descendants more closely related. For example, during the Han dynasty, Wang Zhaojun was sent to the frontier to marry the Huns' Chanyu, but a few years later, the Chanyu died, and Wang Zhaojun became the wife of the new Chanyu, the son of the previous Chanyu, and she had children with both the old and new Chanyu. The bloodline of the nobility was more similar, a phenomenon recently confirmed by more genetic studies.
In 2023, scientists from Harvard University and other institutions analyzed the genomes of some Hun nobles and local elites and found that the higher the status of the Hun, the lower the genetic diversity, indicating that power and status were transmitted within a specific small circle. Actually, from the entire Hun population, the genetic diversity was very high, especially among the lower classes. The relevant research was published in "Science Advances," confirming the historical record that the Huns were a multi-ethnic regime, with a broad range of origins for the lower class population.
The Bloodline Changed Gradually on the Western Migration Route
Specifically, this characteristic of ethnic integration is also reflected in the latest study regarding the issue of the Huns' western migration. For example, the owners of most tombs in the Carpathian Basin only had European bloodline, whereas the samples in the eastern-type tombs from the Hun period had varying degrees of cross-Eurasian East-West hybridization, and most of them had the same Northeast Asian bloodline, similar to the people of the Hun or Xianbei periods. Chronologically, the hybridization events occurred earlier, closer to the Hun period.
Moreover, a lot of evidence indicates that this genetic network connecting the East and West was not achieved overnight, but formed a genetic gradient from east to west. Besides the direct genetic link between the Huns and the Hun territory, some people buried in the eastern part of Central Europe in the 5th century also shared the same bloodline with those buried in the middle of the Eurasian steppe earlier. Including the western side of the Altai Mountains, these locations are no longer part of the Hun territory, but are further west. The genetic connections found here may mean that some Huns retreated to this area when they fled west.
Regarding this, some historical materials can also be verified. Although there is a lack of detailed records of the western migration, since the 1970s, historians such as Qi Sihe, Xiao Zhixing, and Lin Gan have used limited documents to analyze the process of the Huns' western migration. Their research suggests that the Northern Huns may have reached the lands of the Wusun, Kangju, and Alans during their western migration, which are now the Ili River Valley, Kazakhstan, and the southern Russian steppes. However, the entire process had no clear destination, and the actions were not uniform, filled with wars and ethnic integration, lasting nearly three centuries.
Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone introduced that in addition to the genetic descendants of some Hun nobles, they also found people with other steppe bloodlines in the population during the Hun period. However, all these ancestors from the steppe made up only a tiny fraction of the population during the Hun period, estimated to be less than one tenth.
The latest research also found that intermarriage with other ethnic groups continued to occur after the Huns arrived in the Carpathian Basin. Even if they were not buried in the eastern-type tombs, a small number of people had varying degrees of East Asian hybridization, but these hybridization events were closer to the Hun period, possibly because some Huns married locals with European bloodlines after coming from the steppe to the basin.
Five Hundred Years in the Carpathian Basin
This strong coexistence of multiple ethnic groups reached its peak under the control of Attila, the supreme ruler of the empire, around 450 AD. At this time, the Hun empire launched multiple wars against the Balkans, Gaul, and Italy, and attacked the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, demanding land and money. Attila became a legendary figure in European history. However, shortly after the war, with Attila's sudden death, the entire empire collapsed.
Previously subjugated allies such as the Gepids seized the core area of the Carpathian Basin and expelled the Hun empire from there. But the migration of nomadic peoples did not end. More than a hundred years later, in the mid-6th century, the Avars, also from the eastern steppe, arrived here and replaced the previous regime, thereby beginning a two-hundred-year rule over the Carpathian Basin. In the late 9th century, the Hungarians, that is, the Magyars, crossed the Carpathian Mountains to conquer the western basin, deeply influencing the population and culture of the region, giving it a unique Eastern imprint.
"The conquest of the Carpathian Basin by the Hungarians took place in the late 9th century, meaning that the formation of today's Hungarian population happened after the period we studied," explained Zsófia Rácz. Although the connection between the Europeans Huns and the Mongolian steppe was surprising, some Huns found in Hungary had a direct connection with important Hun cemeteries, but their history was much older than the arrival of the Hungarians, therefore, they had little to do with the formation of today's Hungarian population.
However, this does not mean that the three waves of people who came to the Carpathian Basin over five hundred years had no relation to each other. In 2022, researchers from the Hungarian Institute and other institutions, after systematically comparing some Hun, Avar, and Hungarian conquest-era ancient DNA samples, found that the core immigrants among the Huns and Avars could be traced back to the Huns, and the Hungarian conquerors also had a certain amount of late Hun descendants' bloodline. Moreover, some Avar and Hungarian conquest-era samples also had some common Hun-related bloodline. This research was published in "Current Biology," indicating that these three groups from the eastern steppe had a close genetic relationship.
Nevertheless, apart from these steppe immigrants of the time, the majority of people at that time were locals with European bloodline, consistent with the latest study showing that the descendants of the Huns made up only a tiny minority of the Hun empire's samples. That is to say, although the Huns, Huns, and others had some connection to Hungary, because the ethnic composition under their rule was quite complex, and the time was far apart, it is difficult to directly infer who is the descendant of whom. Especially for the Huns, compared to the Avars who directly migrated from Asia to Europe two centuries later, the Huns arrived in Europe with a gap of nearly three hundred years from the Huns of the first century, and both genetic and archaeological evidence show that this long western migration process was extremely complex.
"We can only say that the population movement from the inland of Asia during the Hun period and the early medieval period formed the population history of the western part of the Eurasian steppe. In the Carpathian Basin, the example of the Avars between the Hun period and the Hungarian conquest in the 6th to 9th centuries is particularly prominent," explained Zsófia Rácz to the Southern Weekend reporter. Regarding the Hun empire, although we know of several western migrations, we cannot determine the fate of these groups. "In European records, the earliest sporadic mentions of the Huns can be traced back to the 2nd century, but they became more frequent only in the late 4th century, which is consistent with the archaeological evidence. However, there is no existing literature documenting the relationship between the Huns and the Hungarians."
Southern Weekend reporter Wang Jiangtao
Editor Zhu Liyuan
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7535162812520268298/
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