at first, puzinas considered university of königsberg, but upon advice of professor jurgis gerulis, he chose university of heidelberg where he studied prehistory, comparative linguistics, and classical archaeology in 1930–34. puzinas studied under ernst wahle, who had excavated in latvia and was familiar with baltic archaeology. wahle was puzinas' doctoral advisor, mentor, and even friend; his influence is noticeable in many of puzinas' works. in 1935, puzinas successfully defended his ph.d. thesis on prehistoric research and the lithuanian national revival. the work detailed the history of archaeological studies in lithuania up to 1918 and their effect on the lithuanian identity. it was more a work of history than archaeology. the thesis was published in kaunas in 1935 in its original german language ("vorgeschichtsforschung und nationalbewusstsein in litauen"). the thesis shows minor influence of the budding school of thought that material remains can be equated to ethnicity (kossinna's law) that formed the basis for nazi archaeology. echoes of this theory can be found in puzinas' later works as well.