According to a new study, the Hunnic peoples migrated west across Eurasia, switching between
Hungary just experienced its driest summer yetsince the beginning of meteorological measurements. The heat has devastated the country's usually productive farmland. Now archaeologists have suggested that similar conditions in the 5th century prompted shepherds to become raiders. This influenced the Roman Empire.
According to the study, extreme droughts430–450 AD disrupted the way of life in the Danubian border provinces of the eastern Roman Empire. Therefore, the Hunnic peoples developed new survival strategies to “protect themselves from harsh conditions” and “economic problems.”
Spatial correspondence between reconstructed and measured summer drought in Europe.
Credit: Journal of Roman Archaeology (2022).
DOI: 10.1017/S1047759422000332
Invasions of the Huns into the Easternand central Europe in the 4th and 5th centuries AD has long been seen as a crisis, causing the so-called "Great Migration of Barbarian Tribes", which led to the fall of the Roman Empire. Now scientists understand its reason.
Their findings confirmed climate data,reconstructed from tree rings over the last 2000 years. It turns out that Hungary experienced episodes of unusually dry summers in the 4th and 5th centuries. The experts were also helped by isotope analysis of skeletons from this region.
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On the cover: The Roman Empire (red) in 117 AD during the reign of Emperor Trajan, Tataryn, own work, CC BY-SA 3.0