ism. Archaeologist Vladislav Ravdonikas argued in 1932 that the Goths had
appeared on the north coast of the Black Sea not as a result of the migration of
a Germanic people. Rather, they were formed autochtonously, as a result of
the transformation from the Sarmatian stage to the Gothic stage on the
same territory.39 Autochtony (avtokhtonnost) was a new notion, which was
to gain importance later, although Ravdonikas remained faithful to Marrs denial
of separate origins for various ethnic communities.