the absence of weapons in burials), which is less convincing proof than a positive one. He argues that the Chernyakhov culture could just as likely have been an indigenous development of local Pontic, Carpic or Dacian cultures, or a blended culture resulting from Przeworsk and steppe interactions. Furthermore, he altogether denies the existence of Goths prior to the 3rd century. Kulikowski states that no Gothic people, nor even a noble kernel, migrated from Scandinavia or the Baltic. Rather, he suggests that the "Goths" formed in situ. Like the Alemanni or the Franks, the Goths were a "product of the Roman frontier". Other influences, such as a minority of burials containing weapons, are seen from the Przeworsk and Zarubinec cultures. The latter has been connected with early Slavs. Genetics In 2019, a genetic study of various cultures of the Eurasian Steppe, including the Chernyakhov culture, was published in Current Biology. Out of 31 ancient individuals tested, 3 samples from three individuals which the authors identified with "Ukrainian post-Scythian Chernyakhiv culture" were analyzed. They "overlapped with modern Europeans, representing the most "western" range of variation among the groups of this study", with 64.8% of Yamnaya-like ancestry, "lacking the Altaian component entirely" and having "higher proportion" of Central European Middle Neolithic ancestry (35.2%) than historically earlier samples from the region. They suggest the culture was a multi-ethnic mix, but the samples "appear to represent its Gothic component". Their mtDNA haplogroups were H1n6, H1c and T2g1. See also Oium Carpathian Tumuli culture References Sources External links Slavs in Antiquity, summary in English translation of a text by Valentin V. Sedov, originally in Russian (V. V. Sedov: "Slavyane v drevnosti", Moscow 1994). 2nd-century establishments 5th-century disestablishments Archaeological cultures of Eastern Europe Iron Age cultures of Europe Archaeological cultures in Belarus Archaeological cultures in Moldova Archaeological cultures in Romania Archaeological cultures in Ukraine Slavic archaeological cultures Germanic archaeological cultures Goths Migration Period Roman Dacia Moldova in the Early Middle Ages Romania in the Early Middle Ages