Avars: Mongolian tribe with rapid ascent and decline from power

[guy]

The Avars are now a forgotten barbarian tribe. They allied themselves with the Lombards and helped to destroy the Kingdom of the Gepids in the mid-sixth century AD. The Lombards would then migrate west to occupy Italy. The Avars, on the other hand, would later establish themselves in Pannonia for more than two centuries and repeatedly threatened the Byzantine Empire.

They established the Avar Khaganate from the late 6th century to their rapid disappearance by the early 9th century. They dominated the Pannonian region (much of modern-day Hungary) as well as considerable areas of Central and Eastern Europe.

This study uses genetic evidence proving their origin from Mongolia and their rapid dominance  of Central Europe.
 

Quote

“Now, archaeological and genetic evidence reveals the Avars were migrants from Mongolia—and their migration was, up to that point, the fastest long-distance movement in human history.”

“Genetic evidence also suggests the group that moved from Mongolia to Hungary was much larger than researchers anticipated. Had the invaders been just a tiny band of warriors and their wives, their descendants would have shown strong genetic signals of inbreeding after 2 centuries. But there are no such signals, even as most of the remains studied from elite graves maintain a strong East Asian signature. That suggests the population was tens of thousands strong, Pohl says, or that more migrants from their homeland kept joining the Avar in Europe for decades after their first conquests.”

The first Avar burials were a near-identical match for an individual buried just a few decades earlier in eastern Mongolia, showing the first Avars in Europe probably made the journey of almost 7000 kilometers themselves.”

 

https://www.science.org/content/article/mystery-warriors-made-fastest-migration-ancient-history

 

Ancient genomes reveal origin and rapid trans-Eurasian migration of 7th century Avar elites: Cell

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2022 by guy