WHO WERE THE HUNS AND HOW DID THEY DEFEAT THE ROMANS?
The Huns were a nomadic community originating in Central Asia.
They travelled to Europe and threatened what was left of the Roman Empire.
It is likely they fled from a dry period in Asia. Searching for food and water, they conquered as they went.
By 216 AD - when their territory was split into five successor states - the Huns had extended their area of control north to Siberia, south to Tibet, east to the Pacific Ocean and west to the Caspian Sea.
The herders' diet was high in meat and fish.
The Roman Empire collapsed because of terrifying Huns attacking its eastern frontier around the fourth century AD. Pictured is an artist's impression of a battle between Roman and Hun solider
The Huns also ate lots of millet, which has a distinctive chemical signature that can be identified in human bones.
The wandering Huns grew millet as it it grows in a few short weeks.
Agriculture was considered the foundation of Roman civilisation, and the Romans had a big problem with the Huns as they didn't engage in farming, choosing instead to live a nomadic lifestyle.
The Roman Empire collapsed because of terrifying Huns attacking its eastern frontier around the fourth century AD.
Roman accounts of the Huns tell largely of terror and destruction: The group fought on horseback using longbows to attack their enemy, and were renowned for their savagery and blood-curdling war cries.
'Barbarian' tribes quickly moved into the power vacuum in Europe created by the decline of the Roman Empire.
These include the Huns, Franks, Vandals, Saxons and the Goths.
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