Women in Archaeology: Marija Gimbutas

In honor of Women's History Month: From About.com Lithuanian born archaeologist Marija Gimbutas was a respected scholar in Indo-European studies of the Bronze and Neolithic periods. She is probably one of the best known scholars in this field, primarily for her news-making theories concerning evidence for a woman-focused religion six thousand years ago, called the Goddess cult. She conducted archaeological work at sites such as Sitagroi, Anza and Achilleion. A prolific writer, Gimbuta's work included a melding of language, myth, ethnography and archaeology. Trained at Tubingen and Harvard universities, Gimbutas was a fellow of the Peabody Museum at Harvard, and taught and conducted research at the University of California at Los Angeles. Although her theories are considered speculative, particularly by researchers such as Ruth Tringham and Peter Ucko, there is no doubt that her fearless emphasis on the potential for female headed cults has influenced the study of ancient Bronze and Neolithic cultures. I did a quick search at Amazon.com - here are some interesting titles written (or co-authored) by Marija Gimbutas:

• The Language of the Goddess by Marija Gimbutas and Joseph Campbell
• The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe: Myths and Cult Images, New and Updated Edition by Marija Gimbutas
• The Living Goddesses by Marija Gimbutas and Miriam R. Dexter
• The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe by Marija Gimbutas

There are also videotapes of lectures given by Gimbutas, and various papers in compilation with others.

Wikipedia biograpy.

An interview with Marija Gimbutas, October 3, 1992 (I don't know who the interviewer is; scroll to bottom of page for link to interview)

Joseph Campbell & Marija Gimbutas Library at the Pacific Graduate Institute

Obituary from The New York Times

Signs Out of Time - The Story of Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas (great graphics too)