Ancient Genomes reveal trans-Eurasian connection between European Huns and the Xiongnu Empire
The Huns appeared in Europe in the 370s, establishing an Empire that reshaped West Eurasian history. Yet until today their origins remain a matter of extensive debate. Traditional theories link them to the Xiongnu, the founders of the first nomadic empire of the Mongolian steppe. The Xiongnu empire dissolved, however, ~300 years before the Huns appeared in Europe, and there is little archaeological and historical evidence of Huns in the steppe during this time gap. Furthermore, despite the rich 5th - 6th centuries 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. In this study, we co-analyze archaeological evidence with 34 newly-sequenced and published genomic data for a total of 369 individuals - from 5th - 6th century contexts in the Carpathian Basin including nine Hun-period eastern-type burials, 2nd-5th century sites across Central Asia and 2nd-1st century BCE-CE Xiongnu period sites across the Mongolian steppe. 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. This suggests a mixed origin of the incoming steppe conquerors. Nevertheless, long-shared genomic tracts provide compelling evidence of genetic lineages directly connecting some of the highest elite Xiongnu-period individuals with some of the steppe conquerors and their descendants, showing that some European Huns descended from them.