Marija Alseikaitė Gimbutas

The Living Goddesses crowns a lifetime of innovative, influential work by one of the twentieth century's most remarkable scholars. Marija Gimbutas wrote and taught with rare clarity her original - and originally shocking - interpretation of prehistoric European civilization. Gimbutas flew in the face of contemporary archaeology when she reconstructed through her tireless research in the field and in local texts and mythologies goddess-centered cultures that predated historic patriarchal cultures by many thousands of years. This volume which was close to completion at the time of her death, contains the distillation of Gimbutas studies combining the memorable findings of her earlier work with new discoveries, insights, and analysis.

Presents evidence for the existence of an agrarian earth goddess- worshipping civilization in Old Europe that was destroyed by horse-riding, patriarchal, sky-god-worshipping warriors from the east. A panoramic survey of the Neolithic culture of Europe before the Indo-Europeans. With over 600 photographs, drawings, maps, and charts.

"Uropean civilization between 6500 and 3500 BC - long before Greek or Judaeo-Christian civilizations flourished - was not a provincial reflection of neighboring Near Eastern cultures but a distinct culture with its own unique identity. The mythical imagery of this matrilinear era tells us much about early humanity's concepts of the cosmos, of human relations with nature, of the complementary roles of male and female. Through study of sculpture, vases, and other cult objects from southeastern Europe, Gimbutas sketches the village culture that evolved there before it was overwhelmed by the patriarchal Indo-Euopreans. The Goddess incarnating the creative principle as a Source and Giver of All, fertility images, mythical animals, and other artifacts are anlyzed for their mythic and social significance in this beautifully illustrated study."--Googlebooks.

"Uropean civilization between 6500 and 3500 BC - long before Greek or Judaeo-Christian civilizations flourished - was not a provincial reflection of neighboring Near Eastern cultures but a distinct culture with its own unique identity. The mythical imagery of this matrilinear era tells us much about early humanity's concepts of the cosmos, of human relations with nature, of the complementary roles of male and female. Through study of sculpture, vases, and other cult objects from southeastern Europe, Gimbutas sketches the village culture that evolved there before it was overwhelmed by the patriarchal Indo-Euopreans. The Goddess incarnating the creative principle as a Source and Giver of All, fertility images, mythical animals, and other artifacts are anlyzed for their mythic and social significance in this beautifully illustrated study."--Googlebooks.

286 p. illus., maps. 21 cm.

History of religious symbols about the dominance of the Great Goddess based on archeological finds and art.

240 p. illus., maps, plates. 21 cm

Marija Gimbutas wrote and taught with rare clarity in her original - and originally shocking - interpretation of prehistoric European civilization. This text contains the distillation of her studies, combined with new disco veries, insights, and analysis.

240 p. illus., maps. 21 cm.