TY - JOUR PY - 2022// TI - The role of drought during the Hunnic incursions into central-east Europe in the 4th and 5th c. CE JO - Journal of Roman archaeology A1 - Hakenbeck, Susanne E. A1 - Büntgen, Ulf SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - The Hunnic incursions into eastern and central Europe in the 4th and 5th c. CE have historically been considered one of the key factors in bringing the Roman Empire to an end. However, both the origins of the Huns and their impact on the late Roman provinces remain poorly understood. Here we provide a new, combined assessment of the archaeological, historical, and environmental evidence. Hunnic raids and warfare within the Roman provinces are most intensely attested for the first half of the 5th c. We propose that severe drought spells in the 430s to 450s CE disrupted the economic organization of the incomers and local provincial populations, requiring both to adopt strategies to buffer against economic challenges. We argue that the Huns' apparently inexplicable violence may have been one strategy for coping with climatic extremes within a wider context of the social and economic changes that occurred at the time.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1047-7594 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1047759422000332 ID - ref1 ER -