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2/10/2011
Marija Gimbutas

Marija Gimbutas studied Baltic archaeology, languages, folklore, folk-art, and ancient religion at the University of Vilnius in Lithuania; and European archaeology and ethnology at the universities of Vienna, Innsbruck, and Tuebingen. In 1950, she was appointed a Research Fellow in East European archaeology at Harvard University, later becoming Lecturer in Anthropology there. In 1963 Marija was invited to teach at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she remained as a full professor until her retirement in 1989 as Professor Emeritus of Archaeology. In June of 1993, Marija received an honorary doctorate at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania. She died in Los Angeles on February 2, 1994. A collection of her books, manuscripts, and memorabilia are preserved at the Joseph Campbell & Marija Gimbutas Library on the campus of Pacifica Graduate Institute, just south of Santa Barbara, California. A partial list of her publications is given below:

  • The Balts, Ancient Peoples and Places, vol. 33, Frederick A. Praeger Publishers, N.Y., 1963.
  • The Slavs, Ancient Peoples and Places, vol 74, Frederick A. Praeger Publishers, N.Y., 1971.
  • The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe, 6500-3500 BC, University of California Press, 1982.
  • The Language of the Goddess, Harper and Row, San Francisco, 1989.
  • The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe, Harper and Row, San Francisco, 1991.