In the rich community of Vilnius, Lithuania, Marija Gimbutas (pronounced Maria Gim bah tas)
was born. Her desires and dreams offered a complex and encouraging
narrative of our past. Her discoveries put the spotlight on southeast
Europe in relation to the Upper Paleolithic, Paleolithic and Neolithic
eras (7000 – 3500 BC) also known as the Bronze Age.
Her life was filled with family, community and school. Her parents
extended their value of education by example. Her mother was the first
woman in Lithuania with a PhD in Medicine. As an ophthalmologist, she
offered the option of having a career and giving back to the community.
Her father also had a medical degree and practiced his contribution of
intellectual and spiritual interests. Towards the end of Marija’s high
school education, her father died and as a result worked harder to be a
great student. Finding herself drawn to the songs of the local women as
they worked, she met with them and tirelessly wrote down the lyrics.
Capturing the local mythology, she wove the story of her beginnings – as
a culture, as a country and as a woman. These ancient stories captured
her heart and soul.
Withstanding the invasion of Russia, in 1944 she fled to Austria with
her husband and baby daughter. During her five year stay she earned her
doctorate in archaeology and gave birth to her second daughter. Shortly
thereafter, her family emigrated to the United States.
She secured an unpaid researcher position at Harvard as the only
expert in Eastern European history. She wrote her first book in the
1950s (The Prehistory of Eastern Europe) and didn’t receive an
advance or royalties. She couldn’t join the faculty club denying her
access to two of the campus’s libraries due to being a woman. This lack
of funding or exclusion didn’t deter her determination to advance her
studies and her vocation of unearthing thousands of artifacts half a
world away.
Accepting a professorship in European archeology in UCLA, she settled
in California. She then directed five major archeological digs
throughout southeast Europe. In her discoveries, thousands of vessels
and figurines were excavated, the majority of which were female in
construction. Numerous temples were discovered as well, with the female
sculpture usually featured as the center of high regard. Dr. Gimbutas
determined from her many hours of research that during this time there
was a peaceful and creative civilization that equally shared the tasks
of family rearing, food gathering and creative expression. This was a
time of harmony and prosperity – there was no warfare for about 3500
years. This female centric era wasn’t about putting one sex above the
other, but about the focus on Mother Earth and working together.
Her published works focused no the goddess. With photographs and
illustrations of these discoveries she invite us to consider the sacred
and the mystery of our world. Her valuable texts ask us to explore the
profound and offer our inspiration to others in the form of beauty and
respect.
Dr. Gimbutas’s life work gave us a significant chapter in our
history. To discover a significant sized community that lived in
cohesive harmony for three and a half millennia is astounding and
promising. So much of our formative history lessons focused on warfare;
who took over what land and how many people suffered and died – the
victors and the victims. To have living proof of a time in our past
where creativity, honor and respect were the guiding forces; in which
tombs, sculptures and paintings were produced of exquisite beauty and
grace is a testimony of an advanced evolution. These people left their
legacy and Gimbutas found it and shared it with us. Her dreams of
delving into ancient beginnings, urge us to build upon the same
foundation – working and living together in a partnership. Holding the
earth with reverence is essential to our continuation as a species.
I am inspired by her mantra: Don’t give in, keep moving forward and
give back. In this way of living, we will evolve into that peaceful
place once more. We are to lead by example, just as she did for us.
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