Cone-headed Hun skulls force scientists to think twice about how the Roman Empire REALLY fell apart
Ferocious Atilla and his ferocious Huns are often blamed for the fall of the Roman Empire..but new research suggests otherwise
HISTORY dictates that the ferocious Hun tribe brought about destruction that eventually sparked the demise of the Roman Empire.
But hordes of ordinary Romans may have happily left their homes to follow the Huns and their nomadic lifestyles, according to research.
Roman accounts claim the Huns brought only terror and destruction.
But research from the University of Cambridge on gravesite remains in the Roman frontier region of Pannonia, now Hungary, has revealed for the first time how ordinary people may have dealt with their arrival.
Tooth and bone tests show that over the course of a lifetime, some farmers on the edge of empire left their homesteads to become Hun-like roaming herdsmen and are likely to have bred with the tribe.
It turns out the Huns learnt from their peers, too.
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Other remains from the same gravesites show that Huns moved toward the simple life, plumping for settling down over war.
Dr Susanne Hakenbeck, from University of Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology said: "We know from contemporary accounts that this was a time when treaties between tribes and Romans were forged and fractured, loyalties sworn and broken.
"The lifestyle shifts we see in the skeletons may reflect that turmoil.
"However, while written accounts of the last century of the Roman Empire focus on convulsions of violence, our new data appear to show some degree of cooperation and coexistence of people living in the frontier zone.
"Far from being a clash of cultures, alternating between lifestyles may have been an insurance policy in unstable political times."
The Huns may have brought ways of life that appealed to some farmers in the area, as well learning from and settling among the locals. This could be evidence that steady, incremental infiltration eventually destabilised the empire.
Who were the Huns?
The Huns were nomads who lived in Eastern Europe and Asia between the 1st century AD and seventh centry AD.
They were known for binding children's heads to give them a cone-like appearance and their bloodlust and fondness for destruction.
Marauding hordes of barbarian Huns, under their ferocious leader Attila, are often credited with triggering the fall of one of history’s greatest empires, Rome.
But new research reveals that despite Roman records presenting a cruel, brutal race, their lifestyle enticed many ordinary Romans who travelled with them across Europe.
It appears Roman civilisation and agriculture also rubbed off on the Huns, whose diet appeared to change to a more Roman style after its downfall.
"We know from contemporary accounts that this was a time when treaties between tribes and Romans were forged and fractured, loyalties sworn and broken. The lifestyle shifts we see in the skeletons may reflect that turmoil,” says Hakenbeck.
"However, while written accounts of the last century of the Roman Empire focus on convulsions of violence, our new data appear to show some degree of cooperation and coexistence of people living in the frontier zone. Far from being a clash of cultures, alternating between lifestyles may have been an insurance policy in unstable political times."
They tested skeletal remains at five fifth century sites around Hungary.
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