Xiongnu
In the 1920s, Pyotr Kozlov's excavations of the royal tombs at the Noin-Ula burial site in northern Mongolia that date to around the first century CE provided a glimpse into the lost world of the Xiongnu. Other archaeological sites have been unearthed in Inner Mongolia and elsewhere; they represent the Neolithic and historical periods of the Xiongnu's history. Those included the Ordos culture, many of them had been identified as the Xiongnu cultures. The region was occupied predominantly by peoples showing Mongoloid features, known from their skeletal remains and artifacts. Portraits found in the Noin-Ula excavations demonstrate other cultural evidences and influences, showing that Chinese and Xiongnu art have influenced each other mutually. Some of these embroidered portraits in the Noin-Ula kurgans also depict the Xiongnu with long braided hair with wide ribbons, which is seen to be identical with the Ashina clan hair-style. Well-preserved bodies in Xiongnu and pre-Xiongnu tombs in the Mongolian Republic and southern Siberia show both Mongoloid and Caucasian features. Analysis of skeletal remains from sites attributed to the Xiongnu provides an identification of dolichocephalic Mongoloid, ethnically distinct from neighboring populations in present-day Mongolia. Russian and Chinese anthropological and craniofacial studies show that the Xiongnu were physically very heterogenous, with six different population clusters showing different degrees of Mongoloid and Caucasoid physical traits. These clusters point to significant cross-regional migrations (both east to west and west to east) that likely started in the Neolithic period and continued to the medieval Mongolian period.
Huchuquan
During the tumultuous period between 189 and 215, Huchuquan was outside the interest of the Chinese annals. Nothing is known about the life and events of the southern Xiongnu, who numbered in excess of 100,000. In compliance with treaties, a cavalry division headed by Western Jükü-Prince Kyuibi served as bodyguard troops for the figurehead Han sovereign Emperor Xian, who was a hostage of various warlords vying to rule in his name. However, with the consolidation of power and the emperor's return to Luoyang, the Han central government attempted to assert control over the southern Xiongnu. In 215. Huchuquan was invited to meet the Han chancellor Cao Cao, but was detained, stripped of royal status, and replaced with a puppet Chanyu, the Western Jükü-Prince Kyuibi, from an ineligible line. By that time, the Western Jükü-Prince Kyuibi was released from guardianship duty and returned to his horde in Pingyang to rule the five remaining southern Xiongnu tribes, a far cry from the 80 tribes that sought safety in China in the 50s BC. Nothing is known about the fate of the southern Xiongnu who deposed Huchuquan.