Origins of the Huns

[Aru]

From which direction and region of Eurasia do you think this confederation came from when it initially invaded Eastern Europe? Finland? At the very, very least their origin in the steppes isn't a debated point at all in academia. Their language and precise culture, however, is largely ambiguous and subject to debate.

I was replying to this post:

Umm... it's not just Roman literature (which is mostly worthless for it anyways); Iranian, Bactrian, and Chinese literature discuss the steppe peoples in the intervening period in good detail.

Saying we are talking about specific people, not steppe peoples in general. Therefore I asked if others wrote about Huns specifically.

I'll go and read the posted link now, but even before it, I must mention that confusing names of peoples (calling anyone living east of Carpathians Scythians or Sarmatians, for example) was common so I don't hold much faith in various records being exactly true, but I'll hold judgement until I read it.

edit: Read it. The texts mentioning Huns just prove that the name existed in central Asia in 300's and Xiongnu were called that twice. After that the text give the same various theories of how the name can be linked to European Huns that I already made. Which is a lot of guessing and various possibilities, but without tools to prove anything.

In conclusion, the Huns were in some way connected with Xiongnu. In what way precisely - unknown.