Hun migrations 'linked to deadly Justinian Plague':

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44046031

https://www.academia.edu/36829150/An...edieval_period

(...) The Huns were not one people but formed from diverse nomadic groups such as the Scythians and the Xiongnu who forged allegiances to extend their power and territory. The Scythians were known to the Romans and Greeks as proficient horsemen living on the border between Europe and Asia. The Xiongnu are first attested further east, and fought a bloody war with the forces of Han dynasty China.

"In some of these Huns, we find the basic form of the Justinian Plague... that killed off millions of people in Europe," said co-author Eske Willerslev, from the University of Copenhagen.

DNA from a strain of the plague bacterium (Yersinia pestis) closely related to the one involved in the Justinian pandemic was found in a Hun individual from the Tian Shan mountains of Central Asia who died around 200 AD. This Tian Shan strain is also more "basal" than the Justinian form of the plague, meaning it is further back in the plague's genetic "family tree".

A relative of the Justinian Plague strain also turned up in an individual from North Ossetia, Russia, whose age is more uncertain, but who probably died between the sixth and ninth centuries AD.

The Huns probably began their westward movement in the second or third century BC, appearing on the borders of the Roman Empire in the fourth century. They established a short-lived dominion in Europe through the displacement of existing tribal groups and with attacks on the Empire itself.

Their ferocity was embodied by Attila, the Hunnic leader who fought numerous military campaigns against Rome.

Co-author of the study Peter de Barros Damgaard told BBC News: "Our strain dates back to [around] 200 AD, so several hundreds of years before the Justinian plague wreaked Europe."

"An appearance has also been found in Egypt. As such, increased interaction under the Hunnic and later the Turk Khaganate would have aided in bringing this plague strain through the Silk Road."

"Intensified trade is a very likely factor."

DNA analysis of this plague strain shows it possessed mutations that would have allowed its transmission via fleas, much like the later Black Death. But whether this was the principal mode of spread in the sixth century outbreak remains unknown.

Dr Damgaard said: "An interesting speculation is that Xiongnu warriors are documented through ancient Chinese historical sources to have used biological warfare by putting dead horse bodies in water sources."

"I like to speculate that this would have been the breeding ground for plague, and once again the human trajectory would have been linked to horses, but I have no way of proving that." (...)