The findings run counter to one long-standing idea about the Goths: that they were Scandinavian peoples who moved south to the eastern Mediterranean. “If Gothic identity were primarily a biological lineage descending from Scandinavia, we would not see this,” says Svetoslav Stamov at the National Museum of History in Bulgaria. The Goths were living in eastern Europe at least as early as the 3rd century AD and remained there for centuries. Goths often lived near the frontiers of the Roman Empire, sometimes fighting for the empire and sometimes against it. The site has been tentatively linked to an early Gothic Christian bishop called Wulfila or Ulfilas.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 16, 2026 17:38 UTC