The subject matter of this publication is the question of an eastward expansion of the Sarmatians in the fourth to second centuries b.c. But that takes a while to extract from what is a largely unrevised MA thesis, submitted in 2003 to the University of Halle-Wittenberg. The stated aim is the compilation of a gazetteer of sites with finds of the Sarmatians and Sauromatians (the predecessors and/or eastern neighbours of the Sarmatians) east of the Caspian Sea on the basis of published research (3); and the resulting catalogue is described as ‘the core of this work’ (105).

Arguably both topic and approach are wrong for an MA thesis. The main problem is the Soviet and Russian practice of putting most details of fieldwork into unpublished field reports archived at Moscow, with only summaries being published. Any attempt to achieve the aim of the thesis would, therefore, have required lengthy archive study in Moscow. Instead, the author tries to compress the work into the scale of an MA thesis, leaving large gaps in the coverage.

Another problem is the complete absence of theoretical and methodological concepts. This is a serious fault in a study which deals with ethnically identified evidence. Labels such as Scythian, Saka, Sauromatian, Sarmatian and others are used as if they are self-evident. Wegener understands ‘problems of ethnic interpretation’ as relating mainly to the question of which ethnic label fits best. This is all the more frustrating as some specialists on Sarmatians no longer believe that they were an ethnic unit at all. In the ethnic identification of evidence, the author explicitly follows the publications; publications not offering ethno-cultural labels are ignored (3).

Many other procedures are similarly lacking. In the chapter on ‘The Sauromatian and Sarmatian Culture’ where attempts are made to provide an overview of the material culture, each of the sections is referenced predominantly to one or two papers or handbook chapters; and no fewer than 19 of the 23 figures in this chapter are taken from a single book. Written sources such as Herodotus and others are referenced exclusively to overview articles or even archaeology handbooks, which is not acceptable as an academic standard.

The core of the text is the seventh chapter (unnumbered, as are all chapters) which presents, by types of contexts and artefacts, the evidence of graves, grave-goods, sanctuaries and stelae. It is short (17 pages) and entirely descriptive. The evidence cited is referenced to catalogue entries, which does make sense, but the sheer number of catalogue references in the text makes this chapter almost unreadable. In one case, the noun and the verb of one sentence are separated by a full 23 lines (64).

The final section of this chapter presents, in less than one page, the conclusions of the thesis. It briefly lists the possible mechanisms by which Sarmatian artefacts and burial rites may have spread to regions east of the Caspian, coming down, in the admitted absence of sufficient evidence to support any answer, on the side of an eastward migration. And here, in the final sentence of the text, the author expresses the first hint of a doubt as to whether the ethnic identification of nomads is possible at all (75).

The German text is supplemented by English and Russian summaries which, in the view of the reviewer, are more readable than the German original. The Catalogue is a gazetteer which lists sites alphabetically, without geographical subdivisions. In contrast to the rest of the book, it is laid out clearly, providing in 37 pages concise information on each site.

It is recognised that this MA study may have been intended as the first stage of a doctoral thesis. Irrespective of this, the scope of the subject should never have been a stand-alone MA thesis, and the unsatisfactory outcome should never have been published as it stands. Specialists may be able to extract some useful information from the catalogue. But the book is frankly not useful for classicists or archaeologists looking for more general information, and it is totally unsuitable for the general reader.