The Huns Practiced Body Modification
Descriptions of the Huns comes from sources that saw them as the “scourge of the earth” and therefore all of them depict the Huns has appearing to be ugly and savage. Some of the written accounts of the Huns and their appearances have been supported by Hunnic graves however. The Huns believed that it was better to honor the death of a warrior by the blood of warriors rather than tears. For funerals and in times of mourning the men would deeply cut their bodies so they could bleed as a sign of respect. This led to the Huns having a very scarred appearance. Some Roman accounts even suggested that infants were cut at birth and that is why the Huns never grew beards. To the Romans the lack of a beard only made their appearance even more vile.
There is also evidence to suggest that the Huns practiced cranial modification. For the Huns cranial deformation was a sign of status and social class. Those of the Hunnic nobility and higher order would have had the practice done to themselves and to their children. As a large conglomeration of tribes it may have also been a way to identify the core tribe members and therefore the ones closest to the King. Cranial deformation started in infancy and continued through early childhood in order to get the desired shape. The method used by the Huns is not known and it is possible that their method had something to do with the written records that the Huns cut into the faces of infants or why they did not grow beards.