GIMBUTAS, Marija (Lith. Marija Gimbutienė, born Marija Birutė Alseikaitė). Vilnius 23.1.1921 — Los Angeles 2.2.1994. Lithuanian Archaeologist in the U.S.A. Professor in Los Angeles. Daughter of two physicians, Danielius Alseika (d. 1936) and Veronika Janulaitytė-Alseikienė. In 1931 the family moved to Kaunas and parents divorced. After gymnasium in Kaunas studied linguistics at Kaunas University and archaeology at Vilnius. M.A. 1942 Vilnius. Married 1941 Jurgis Gimbutas (1918–2001), an architect, three daughters. In 1944 they fled before Red Army to Austria and Bavaria, soon to Tübingen. Ph.D. 1946 Tübingen. Then worked at Heidelberg and Munich. In 1949 the family moved to the U.S.A., where she became Lecturer at Harvard. Then at U.C.L.A., from 1964 as Professor of European Archaeology and Indo-European Studies, 1965 also Curator of Old World Archaeology. Retired 1989. Hon. Ph.D. 1993 Kaunas.
Gimbutas was a highly appreciated specialist of Bronze Age Europe and IE antiquity. In 1956 she formulated the Kurgan hypothesis. She conducted excavations in North Macedonia and Greece.
Publications: Diss. Die Bestattung in Litauen in der vorgeschichtlichen Zeit. Tübingen 1946.– The Prehistory of Eastern Europe. Part 1. Mesolithic, Neolithic and Copper Age Cultures in Russia and the Baltic Area. 241 p. Cambridge MA 1956.
– The Balts. 286 p. 79 pl. 58 fig. Ancient peoples and places 33. L. 1963; The Slavs. 240 p. ill. Ancient peoples and places 74. L. 1971.
– Bronze Age Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe. the Hague & L. 1965.– The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 7000 to 3500 BC: Myths, Legends and Cult Images. L. 1974, rev. ed. 308 p. 252 ill. 171 fig. 8 maps. L. 1982; The Language of the Goddess. Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization. 23+388 p. 24 pl. 492 fig. 5 charts. 13 maps. L. 1989; The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe. 542 p. San Francisco 1991.
– Das Ende Alteuropas. Der Einfall von Steppennomaden aus Südrussland und die Indogermanisierung Mitteleuropas. 135 p. Innsbruck 1994; “The Indoeuropeanization of Europe”, Word 44, 1993, 205-222.
– M. R. Dexter & K. Jones-Bley (eds.): The Kurgan culture and the Indo-Europeanization of Europe: Selected articles from 1952 to 1993 by M. Gimbutas. 404 p. JIES Monogr. 18. Washington DC 1997.
Sources: Wikipedia with list of publications, references to other sources and a photo.
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