Under Attila, who came to power around A.D.

434, Hunnic raiding of the Balkans became systematic and devastating.

The Huns crossed the Danube and pushed deep into Thrace and Macedonia on multiple occasions in the 440s and early 450s.

Deultum, located in southeastern Bulgaria not far from the Black Sea coast, was within the range of both Gothic and Hunnic raiding parties operating in Thrace.

The city could have been struck by either or by other armed groups in this turbulent period.

The critical point for interpreting the Deultum discovery is that the current evidence cannot specify which group was responsible for whatever event killed the young man in the dolium.