Together with her husband and daughter, she went to T übingen, a German university where she completed her doctorate on prehistoric burials in Lithuania. She immediately began to publish articles on Baltic archaeology, mythology, and folklore. Nonetheless she still completed her graduate studies in archaeology in 1942. Academic Careerįollowing the invasions of Lithuania, first by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany, Gimbutas joined the underground resistance movement.
There she resumed her studies of folklore and began to collect materials from various regions of Eastern Europe. The next year, after Vilnius had been freed from Polish occupation, Gimbutas returned to the Lithuanian capital. In 1938 Gimbutas began to study linguistics at the University of Kaunas. This trip was the beginning of her lifelong attraction to folklore, an interest that had a prominent influence on her work in archaeology and her studies of prehistoric civilizations and cultures. In 1937 –1938 she participated in an ethnographic expedition to southeastern Lithuania. Even as a young girl, Marija developed a wide range of interests and talents among other interests, she proved to be a highly gifted musician.
The family belonged to a circle of the best-known intellectuals and artists of their time in Eastern Europe. Her parents were both physicians who founded the first hospital in Lithuania. Born January 23, 1921, in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, Gimbutas grew up in a progressive and well-educated family. GIMBUTAS, MARIJA (1921 –1994) was an archaeologist, prehistorian, and influential interpreter of Stone Age religion.
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