Introduction to Mythology

Lithuanian Born Archaeologist - Studied Neolithic and Bronze Age Cultures of "Old Europe."

Promulgated New of Theory of Indo-European Origins - the "Kurgan Hypothesis" - Using Archaeology, Linguistics and Mythological Interpretation in 1956.

Believed Neolithic Europe Was a Goddess (Earth Mother) Worshipping, Matristic Society - "Exhibiting Influence or Domination by the Mother Figure."

Matristic Society Conquered by Indo-European People - the Kurgans - during the Bronze Age.

Matristic Society Was Believed to Be Relatively Peaceful; Honored Homosexuals and Espoused Economic Equality between the Sexes.

Conversely, the Kurgans Were a Patriarchal, Warrior Culture.

After the Coming of the Feminist Movement in the 1970s Her Last three Books Gained Her Fame and Notoriety:

1) The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe (1974);

2) The Language of the Goddess (1989);

3) The Civilization of the Goddess (1991).

Her Theories Have Been Adopted and Extended by Members of the Wiccan and Neopagan Movement.

Joseph Campbell Was Favorably Impressed by Her Theories; Wrote the Forward to Language of the Goddess (1989).

Documentary Film about the Life and Work of Gimbutas - Signs Out of Time - Released in 2004 (See Video)

British Archaeologist Colin Renfrew Proposed an Alternative to the Kurgan Hypothesis in 1999 - the "Anatolian Hypothesis."

Cynthia Eller Completely Debunks the Gimbutas Hypothesis of a Peaceful Matriarchal Culture in "Old Europe" in Her Book Entitled: The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory (2000).