Gratitude to Marija Gimbutas on the Occasion of Her One Hundredth Birthday

Michael Dames

Abstract

The prehistorian, folklorist and linguist Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994) operated within the academic milieu, yet her interdisciplinary approach, and her emphasis on a Goddess-centred view of the Neolithic, came to be regarded as subversive by many of her fellow academics. She employed traditional techniques, not to amplify the parochialism of modern western culture, but rather to open the door to a long-lost alternative world, to be studied and appreciated on its own terms. To her command of diverse frames of reference, she added the ability to see and to develop fruitful interdisciplinary syntheses. Moreover, she recognised pluralism as an underlying norm, awaiting a courageous spokesperson, so she worked to reveal previously hidden aspects of Europe’s multi-faceted cultural landscape.