The feared mounted warriors of the Hun Empire of Europe now are believed to have descended from the Xiongnu of Inner Mongolia. It was primarily the Xiongnu, against whom the Imperial China erected and completed the Great Wall during the Qin dynasty. The Xiongnu Empire covered the open steppes around and north of the Yellow River (Hwang Ho) between the 4-1 centuries B.C, from where they mounted several attacks on the neighboring tribes, such as the Eastern Hu, Yuechi, Xianbei, and of course the Han of the Chinese States. The burial sites of the Xiongnu have preserved some of the most astounding treasures of their everyday life, some of them unearthed only twenty five years ago. Most of these archaeological sites are located in the Ordos region, in the big bend of the Yellow River.
After repeated breakups into a northern and southern part, the Xiongnu Empire faced its end when the formerly subjugated tribes of the Xianbei emerged as a new powerful confederation who defeated the Xiongnu and occupied their land in the first century A.D.

The Xiongnu (Eastern Hun) Empire in the 4th century B.C.

A few centuries later, following the Scythians and then the various Sarmatian tribes, a new, highly organized pastoral nomadic nation appeared on the Eastern European steppes, the Huns. They possessed almost the same cultural and artistic traditions as the Xiongnu earlier at the East. Moving westward, the Huns eventually reached the Great Hungarian Plain, where they established their new imperial center. It was here, where the last and the greatest of the Hun rulers, Attila came into power, and it was here, from where the Huns overrun much of Europe, and most importantly, cracked the already shaky foundations of the Roman Empire.

The Hun Empire in the mid 5th century A.D.

Artistic treasures of the Huns:

Headwear
Various pieces of jewelry from a prince's tomb
Recumbent Stag
Bronze Cauldron
Plaque of a Belt
Ear Ornaments
Diadem
Distorted skull*

Literature:

Kessler A. T. (ed.) 1993.	Empires Beyond the Great Wall. The Heritage of Genghis Khan. Nat. Hist. Museum of Los Angeles County
Basilov, V. (ed.) 1989.	Nomads of Eurasia. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and University of Washington Press, Seattle
Bóna, I. 1993.	A Hunok és Nagykirályaik. (The Huns and their Kings). Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest

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