others, such as the historian peter heather, affirm it was built by the local germanic tribes, mainly as a defense against raiders from central asia (attila's huns). historian thomas s. burns is more reluctant, and wishes for better dating data. the identification of the geographical feature in moldavia with the passage in ammianus marcellinus has been proposed by the romanian historian radu vulpe in 1957. historian herwig wolfram questions the emendation given to the passage in ammianus marcellinus necessary to read it as being about a wall.