Marija Gimbutas

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Contextual Quote

"The exact position taken by Gimbutas: based on the roughly egalitarian graves and other material evidence, she concluded that Neolithic societies of Europe and Anatolia had “a balanced, nonpatriarchal and nonmatriarchal social system.” To express this balanced culture, Gimbutas expressly avoided using the term “matriarchy,” trying out several other terms."

- Charlene Spretnak [1]


Bio

"Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994), former Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at UCLA, contributed to what is considered to be one of the most significant academic watershed moments in women’s studies with her archeological and philosophical work on Neolithic culture and religion. A Lithuanian-American archeologist, she is best known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of “Old Europe,” a term she introduced.

Old Europe referred to both the geographical area and social structures that existed before the Indo-European influence, and was based on her work on the cross-disciplines of archaeological artifacts, linguistics, ethnography and folklore that led her to posit the thesis that the European prehistoric culture was female-centered and worshiped a Mother Goddess as giver of all life. Gimbutas’ hypothosis that the Kurgan invasions brought an end to Old Europe and introduced new Indo-European languages to Europe was viewed with skepticism by many scholars in her time; in recent years her Kurgan theory was given support through advances in DNA testing."

(https://www.opusarchives.org/marija-gimbutas-collection/)


Publications

  • "For a complete list of her publications see the Marija Gimbutas bibliography at [2]

The Civilization of the Goddess

"In Gimbutas’ last book The Civilization of the Goddess, which synthesizes the work and theses of her previous books (Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe 1974/1982 and The Language of the Goddess 1989/1991),"

(https://www.opusarchives.org/marija-gimbutas-collection/)


More information