Editing Marija Gimbutas (section)

==Career==

=== Education and academic appointments ===
From 1936, Gimbutas participated in [[ethnography|ethnographic]] expeditions to record traditional folklore and studied Lithuanian beliefs and rituals of death.<ref name="WareBraukman234" /> She graduated with honors from Aušra Gymnasium in Kaunas in 1938 and enrolled in the [[Vytautas Magnus University]] the same year, where she studied [[linguistics]] in the Department of Philology. She then attended the [[University of Vilnius]] to pursue graduate studies in archaeology (under [[Jonas Puzinas]]), linguistics, ethnology, folklore and literature.<ref name="WareBraukman234" />

In 1942 she completed her master's thesis, "Modes of Burial in Lithuania in the Iron Age", with honors.<ref name="WareBraukman234" /> She received her Master of Arts degree from the University of Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1942.

In 1946, Gimbutas received a doctorate in archaeology, with minors in ethnology and [[history of religion]], from [[University of Tübingen]] with her dissertation "Prehistoric Burial Rites in Lithuania" ("Die Bestattung in Litauen in der vorgeschichtlichen Zeit"), which was published later that year.<ref name="WareBraukman235" /><ref>[https://katalog.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/opac/RDSRecord/RDSDetails?id=010331530] {{dead link|date=March 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> She often said that she had the dissertation under one arm and her child under the other arm when she and her husband fled the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, in the face of an advancing Soviet army in 1944.

From 1947 to 1949 she did postgraduate work at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Munich.

After arriving in the United States in the 1950s, Gimbutas immediately went to work at [[Harvard University]] translating Eastern European archaeological texts. She then became a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology. In 1955 she was made a Fellow of Harvard's [[Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology|Peabody Museum]]. As a woman scholar, Gimbutas was banned from using Harvard's library which was reserved for men only. This was a factor in her leaving Harvard for  UCLA.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Gimbutas then taught at UCLA, where she became Professor of European Archaeology and Indo-European Studies in 1964 and Curator of Old World Archaeology in 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.brown.edu/Research/Breaking_Ground/results.php?d=1&first=Marija&last=Gimbutas|title=Women in Old World Archaeology|website=Brown.edu|access-date=7 August 2018}}</ref>  In 1993, Gimbutas received an honorary doctorate at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

===Kurgan hypothesis===
In 1956 Gimbutas introduced her ''[[Kurgan hypothesis]]'', which combined archaeological study of the distinctive ''[[Kurgan]]'' burial mounds with linguistics to unravel some problems in the study of the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) speaking peoples, whom she dubbed the "Kurgans"; namely, to account for their origin and to trace their migrations into Europe. This hypothesis, and her method of bridging the disciplines, has had a significant impact on [[Indo-European studies]].

During the 1950s and early 1960s, Gimbutas earned a reputation as a world-class specialist on [[Bronze Age Europe]], as well as on Lithuanian folk art and the [[prehistory]] of the [[Balts]] and [[Slavs]], partly summed up in her definitive opus, ''Bronze Age Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe'' (1965). In her work she reinterpreted European prehistory in light of her backgrounds in linguistics, ethnology, and the history of religions, and challenged many traditional assumptions about the beginnings of European civilization.

As a Professor of European Archaeology and Indo-European Studies at [[UCLA]] from 1963 to 1989, Gimbutas directed major excavations of Neolithic sites in southeastern Europe between 1967 and 1980, including Anzabegovo, near [[Štip]], Republic of North Macedonia, and [[Sitagroi]] and [[Achilleion (Thessaly)|Achilleion]] in [[Thessaly]] (Greece). Digging through layers of earth representing a period of time before contemporary estimates for Neolithic habitation in Europe – where other archaeologists would not have expected further finds – she unearthed a great number of artifacts of daily life and religion or spirituality, which she researched and documented throughout her career.

Three genetic studies in 2015 gave support to the [[Kurgan theory]] of Gimbutas regarding the [[Indo-European Urheimat]]. According to those studies, Y-chromosome [[Haplogroup R (Y-DNA)|haplogroups R1b and R1a]], now the most common in Europe (R1a is also common in South Asia) would have expanded from the Russian steppes, along with the Indo European languages; they also detected an autosomal component present in modern Europeans which was not present in Neolithic Europeans, which would have been introduced with paternal lineages R1b and R1a, as well as Indo-European languages.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/02/10/013433|title=Massive migration from the steppe is a source for Indo-European languages in Europe|first1=Wolfgang|last1=Haak|first2=Iosif|last2=Lazaridis|first3=Nick|last3=Patterson|first4=Nadin|last4=Rohland|first5=Swapan|last5=Mallick|first6=Bastien|last6=Llamas|first7=Guido|last7=Brandt|first8=Susanne|last8=Nordenfelt|first9=Eadaoin|last9=Harney|first10=Kristin|last10=Stewardson|first11=Qiaomei|last11=Fu|first12=Alissa|last12=Mittnik|first13=Eszter|last13=Bánffy|first14=Christos|last14=Economou|first15=Michael|last15=Francken|first16=Susanne|last16=Friederich|first17=Rafael Garrido |last17=Pena |first18=Fredrik |last18=Hallgren |first19=Valery |last19=Khartanovich |first20=Aleksandr |last20=Khokhlov |first21=Michael |last21=Kunst |first22=Pavel |last22=Kuznetsov |first23=Harald |last23=Meller |first24=Oleg |last24=Mochalov |first25=Vayacheslav |last25=Moiseyev|first26=Nicole|last26=Nicklisch|first27=Sandra L. |last27=Pichler |first28=Roberto |last28=Risch |first29=Manuel A. Rojo|last29=Guerra|first30=Christina|last30=Roth|first31=Anna|last31=Szécsényi-Nagy |first32=Joachim |last32=Wahl |first33=Matthias |last33=Meyer |first34=Johannes |last34=Krause |first35=Dorcas |last35=Brown |first36=David |last36=Anthony |first37=Alan |last37=Cooper |first38=Kurt Werner |last38=Alt |first39=David |last39=Reich |date=10 February 2015|journal=bioRxiv|volume=522|issue=7555|pages=207–211|access-date=7 August 2018|biorxiv=10.1101/013433|arxiv=1502.02783|doi=10.1038/NATURE14317|pmid=25731166|pmc=5048219|bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia|first1=Morten E.|last1=Allentoft|first2=Martin|last2=Sikora|first3=Karl-Göran|last3=Sjögren|first4=Simon|last4=Rasmussen|first5=Morten|last5=Rasmussen|first6=Jesper|last6=Stenderup|first7=Peter B.|last7=Damgaard|first8=Hannes|last8=Schroeder|first9=Torbjörn|last9=Ahlström|first10=Lasse|last10=Vinner|first11=Anna-Sapfo|last11=Malaspinas|first12=Ashot|last12=Margaryan|first13=Tom|last13=Higham|first14=David|last14=Chivall|first15=Niels|last15=Lynnerup|first16=Lise|last16=Harvig|first17=Justyna|last17=Baron|first18=Philippe Della|last18=Casa|first19=Paweł|last19=Dąbrowski|first20=Paul R.|last20=Duffy|first21=Alexander V.|last21=Ebel|first22=Andrey|last22=Epimakhov|first23=Karin|last23=Frei|first24=Mirosław|last24=Furmanek|first25=Tomasz|last25=Gralak|first26=Andrey|last26=Gromov|first27=Stanisław|last27=Gronkiewicz|first28=Gisela|last28=Grupe|first29=Tamás|last29=Hajdu|first30=Radosław|last30=Jarysz|first31=Valeri|last31=Khartanovich|first32=Alexandr|last32=Khokhlov|first33=Viktória|last33=Kiss|first34=Jan|last34=Kolář|first35=Aivar|last35=Kriiska|first36=Irena|last36=Lasak|first37=Cristina|last37=Longhi|first38=George|last38=McGlynn|first39=Algimantas|last39=Merkevicius|first40=Inga|last40=Merkyte|first41=Mait|last41=Metspalu|first42=Ruzan|last42=Mkrtchyan|first43=Vyacheslav|last43=Moiseyev|first44=László|last44=Paja|first45=György|last45=Pálfi|first46=Dalia|last46=Pokutta|first47=Łukasz|last47=Pospieszny|first48=T. Douglas|last48=Price|first49=Lehti|last49=Saag|first50=Mikhail|last50=Sablin|first51=Natalia|last51=Shishlina|first52=Václav|last52=Smrčka|first53=Vasilii I.|last53=Soenov|first54=Vajk|last54=Szeverényi|first55=Gusztáv|last55=Tóth|first56=Synaru V.|last56=Trifanova|first57=Liivi|last57=Varul|first58=Magdolna|last58=Vicze|first59=Levon|last59=Yepiskoposyan|first60=Vladislav|last60=Zhitenev|first61=Ludovic|last61=Orlando|first62=Thomas|last62=Sicheritz-Pontén|first63=Søren|last63=Brunak|first64=Rasmus|last64=Nielsen|first65=Kristian|last65=Kristiansen|first66=Eske|last66=Willerslev|date=1 June 2015|journal=Nature|volume=522|issue=7555|pages=167–172|doi=10.1038/nature14507|pmid=26062507|bibcode=2015Natur.522..167A|s2cid=4399103|url=https://depot.ceon.pl/handle/123456789/13155}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/03/13/016477|title=Eight thousand years of natural selection in Europe|first1=Iain|last1=Mathieson|first2=Iosif|last2=Lazaridis|first3=Nadin|last3=Rohland|first4=Swapan|last4=Mallick|first5=Bastien|last5=Llamas|first6=Joseph|last6=Pickrell|first7=Harald|last7=Meller|first8=Manuel A. Rojo|last8=Guerra|first9=Johannes|last9=Krause|first10=David|last10=Anthony|first11=Dorcas|last11=Brown|first12=Carles Lalueza|last12=Fox|first13=Alan|last13=Cooper|first14=Kurt W.|last14=Alt|first15=Wolfgang|last15=Haak|first16=Nick|last16=Patterson|first17=David|last17=Reich|date=14 March 2015|journal=bioRxiv|pages=016477|access-date=7 August 2018|via=biorxiv.org|doi=10.1101/016477|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Late archaeology===
[[File:Marija-Gimbutas-newgrange.jpg|thumb|upright|Marija Gimbutas by Kerbstone 52, at the back of [[Newgrange]], [[County Meath]], [[Ireland]], in September 1989]]
Gimbutas gained fame and notoriety in the [[English-speaking world]] with her last three English-language books: ''The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe'' (1974); ''The Language of the Goddess'' (1989), which inspired an exhibition in [[Wiesbaden]], 1993–94; and the last of the three, ''The Civilization of the Goddess'' (1991), which, based on her documented archaeological findings, presented an overview of her conclusions about Neolithic cultures across Europe: housing patterns, social structure, art, religion, and the nature of literacy.

The ''Goddess'' trilogy articulated what Gimbutas saw as the differences between the [[Old Europe (archaeology)|Old European]] system, which she considered goddess- and woman-centered ([[gynocentric]]), and the Bronze Age Indo-European [[patriarchal]] ("androcratic") culture which supplanted it.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Hayden |author-first=Brian |year=1987 |chapter=Old Europe: Sacred Matriarchy or Complementary Opposition? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qY973Ah43qoC&pg=PA17 |editor-last=Bonanno |editor-first=Anthony |title=Archaeology and Fertility Cult in the Ancient Mediterranean: Papers Presented at the First International Conference on Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean, the University of Malta, 2-5 September 1985 |location=[[Amsterdam]] |publisher=[[John Benjamins Publishing Company|B. R. Grüner]] |pages=17–30 |isbn=9789060322888}}</ref> According to her interpretations, gynocentric (or ''[[matristic]]'') societies were peaceful, honored women, and espoused [[Economic egalitarianism|economic equality]].{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=January 2020}}
The androcratic, or male-dominated, Kurgan peoples, on the other hand, invaded Europe and imposed upon its natives the hierarchical rule of male warriors.

===Influence===

Gimbutas's work, along with that of her colleague, mythologist [[Joseph Campbell]], is housed in the [[Pacifica Graduate Institute#Marija Gimbutas Collection at OPUS|OPUS Archives and Research Center]] on the campus of the [[Pacifica Graduate Institute]] in [[Carpinteria, California]]. The library includes Gimbutas's extensive collection on the topics of archaeology, mythology, folklore, art and linguistics. The Gimbutas Archives house over 12,000 images personally taken by Gimbutas of sacred figures, as well as research files on Neolithic cultures of Old Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opusarchives.org/gimbutas_overview.shtml|title=Archived copy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606092451/http://www.opusarchives.org/gimbutas_overview.shtml|archive-date=2010-06-06|access-date=2010-05-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opusarchives.org/marija-gimbutas-collection/|title=The Marija Gimbutas Collection – OPUS Archives and Research Center|website=Opusarchives.org|access-date=7 August 2018}}</ref>

[[Mary Mackey]] has written four historical novels based on Gimbutas's research: ''The Year the Horses Came'', ''The Horses at the Gate'', ''The Fires of Spring'', and ''The Village of Bones''.