Category: Conferences & Symposia

2021 Online Symposium Keynote:

REMEMBERING A GREAT WOMAN OF SCIENCE: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ARCHAEOMYTHOLOGIST MARIJA GIMBUTAS

presented by Joan Marler

Friday July 16, 2021, 12:30 Eastern Daylight Time

Marija Gimbutas was born in 1921 in Vilnius, the ancient capital of Lithuania, into a family of physicians, scholars, folklorists, and historians. This richly illustrated presentation introduces her unique cultural background, her interdisciplinary classical education, and her pioneering scholarship. During her years as a Research Fellow at Harvard (1950-1963) and throughout her tenure as Professor of European archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles (1963-1989), she produced twenty books and more than two hundred scholarly articles on European prehistory. Her study of thousands of Neolithic figurines throughout Europe, and her detailed investigation of hundreds of female sculptures in their ritual contexts from her major excavations in southeastern Europe inspired her to write extensively about the bountiful outpouring of female imagery produced by the earliest agrarian societies of Europe.

In order to adequately study the beliefs, rituals, symbolism and social structure of these Old European cultures she formulated archaeomythology to extend the interpretative boundaries of archaeology.  Her investigations uncovered abundant evidence of domestic rituals, the central role of women in society, and the widely distributed use of signs and symbols that she considered to be a “sacred script.” Her Kurgan theory identified the infiltration of patriarchal pastoralists from the Pontic-Caspian steppe that disrupted three thousand years of sustainable development of the mature, matristric, peaceful, egalitarian societies of Old Europe. Her work stimulated enormous appreciation throughout the world while initiating a firestorm of controversy.  After all, her work challenged a constellation of basic assumptions that make up the Western patriarchal worldview.

Joan Marler is the Executive Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology, an international organization promoting archaeomythological scholarship. She is the author (with Harald Haarmann) of Introducing the Mythological Crescent (2008), and is the editor of The Civilization of the Goddess by Marija Gimbutas (1991), From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (1997), The Journal of Archaeomythology (2005-present), The Danube Script (2008), and other publications. Joan lectures internationally on the life and work of Marija Gimbutas and is the author of forty published articles, including a biographical article about Marija Gimbutas in Harvard’s Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary (2004).

Member Registration

Non-member Registration

To give you plenty of time to view the program at leisure, all sessions will remain available, to those who register, for twelve months following the event.

“Voices from/for the Land: Wisdom of Place and Tradition”

Symposium Panel: 1:45-3:15 EDT Saturday, July 17, 2021

Moderator: Letecia Layson

• “Sacred Instructions,” Sherri Mitchell – Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset
• “Old European Goddess Symbols and Myths in Ireland’s Ancient Landscapes,” Geraldine Moane
• “The Peak Sanctuaries of Bronze Age Crete: An Archaeomythological Perspective,” Joan Cichon
• “The Symbolism of Old Europe in the Standing Stones of Callanish,” Melody Lee

Marija Gimbutas proposed that Neolithic societies of Old Europe revered the earth and nature, and existed in harmony with the lands where they lived. In this panel we will discuss contemporary Indigenous perspectives that hold the land sacred, explore the importance of mountaintop sanctuaries in Bronze Age Crete, and compare Gimbutas’ findings in Old Europe with the sacred landscapes and myths of Ireland and the Scottish island of Callanish.

Sherri Mitchell -Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset was born and raised on the Penobscot Indian reservation. She received her Juris Doctorate and a certificate in Indigenous People’s Law and Policy from the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law. Sherri is the author of the award-winning book Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change.

Ger Moane is Professor Emerita in the School of Psychology at University College Dublin and has numerous publications and awards in the areas of gender, feminism and colonialism. She met Marija Gimbutas during her visit to Ireland, and has since undertaken extensive research on her work, presenting on the links between Gimbutas’ concepts and ancient Irish sites.

Dr. Joan Cichon holds a PhD in Women’s Spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her forthcoming book is entitled Matriarchy in Bronze Age Crete: A Perspective from Archaeomythology and Modern Matriarchal Studies.

Melody Lee is an adjunct professor of world literature, storyteller, and writer. She is co-author of the book, Becoming Women of Wisdom: Marking the Passage into the Crone Years, to guide women in the process of using circles and ceremony to claim their power as older women.

Letecia Layson is a Filipina, Feminist, Futurist, Priestess of Morphogenesis (Form Coming Into Being), High Priestess of Diana; Priestess Hierophant in FOI/TOI-LA. Letecia is one of the founding Mothers of the Center for Babaylan Studies; a member of International Feminists for Gift Economy; and an organizer of the Modern Matriarchal Studies Network.

Member Registration

Non-member Registration

To give you plenty of time to view the program at leisure, all sessions will remain available, to those who register, for twelve months following the event.

 “Women at the Center: Historic and Contemporary Resonance with Marija Gimbutas’ Work”

 Symposium Program 12:00-1:30 EDT, Saturday July 17, 2021

Moderator: Dr. Mara Keller

• “Preservation of Indigenous Language and Women’s Traditions,” Miigam’agan, Wapna”kikewi’sk; N’totm Jagejk, Sovereign of Gespegawagi Tribal Council
• “Crisis Learning and the Work of Marija Gimbutas: Critical Feminist Pedagogical Reflections on Community, Resiliency, and Healing,” Dr. Laura Truxler
• “The Old European Roots of Women’s Circle Dance,” Laura Shannon
• “The New Ideology of Patriarchy in regard to the Neolithic,” Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth

Today there are many repercussions, resonances, and direct responses to Gimbutas’ research and writings. In this panel we will discuss the role of Indigenous language in cultural preservation of women’s traditions, the responses of university students to the study of Gimbutas’ work, the Old European origins of women’s circle dance, and a critique of the recent proposition that the societies of Old Europe were patriarchal.

Miigam’agan is a Wabanaki/Mi’kmaw grandmother of the Jagej Clan from Esgenoôpetitj/ Burnt Church also known as Atlantic Canada. She is Elder-in-Residence at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, NB, a role in which she provides support for Indigenous students and offers opportunities for the students and faculty to learn from Indigenous knowledge keepers.

Dr. Laura Truxler is an Assistant Professor of Integrative Studies Across Cultures and co-director of the First-Year Experience Program at Holy Names University in Oakland, CA where she teaches gender and cultural studies courses through an intersectional feminist lens. She holds a Ph D in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Women’s Spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Considered a ‘grandmother’ of the worldwide Sacred/Circle Dance movement, Laura Shannon has been researching, teaching, and writing about traditional women’s dances for over thirty years. Laura is a faculty member of the Findhorn Foundation Sacred Dance Department and Founding Director of the Athena Institute for Women’s Dance and Culture.

Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth, PhD, has published extensively on matriarchal societies and culture, and is the founder of the discipline of Modern Matriarchal Studies. Her magnum opus is Matriarchal Societies. Studies on Indigenous Cultures across the Globe (2003).

Dr. Mara Keller is Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She is a Goddess thealogian and spiritual feminist philosopher committed to women’s embodied spirituality and multicultural eco-social justice, and has published numerous articles on these topics.

Member Registration

Non-member Registration

Please note: We realize that there may be schedule conflicts during the weekend of the symposium. To give you plenty of time to view the program at leisure, all sessions will remain available, to those who register, for twelve months following the event.

“The Continuity of Old Europe and Indigenous Cultural Patterns within Later Periods”

Symposium Program  2:15-3:45 EDT, Sunday July 18, 2021

Moderator: Joan Marler

• “A Working Hypothesis for the Study of Religion in a Minoan Village,” Dr. Carol P. Christ
• “Reconsidering the Roots of Western Philosophy,” Charlene Spretnak
• “Old European Worldview and Spirituality: From Matricultural Crete to the Eleusinian Mysteries to the Early Christian Church,” Dr. Mara Keller
• “Global Resonances with the Archaeology of Old Europe,” Max Dashu

Marija Gimbutas’ research was foundational in creating the field of archaeomythology. This panel focuses on perspectives of that field as scholars revisit concepts of philosophy in light of discoveries in Old Europe, examine a hypothesis for the study of religion in Minoan Crete, consider the Old European roots of religion in Greece and the early Christian Church, and explore ways in which Old European archaeology finds parallels with other world cultures.

Dr. Carol P. Christ is the author of 8 books on women and religion, including Rebirth of the Goddess and A Serpentine Path, and recently contributed an entry on “Crete, Religion and Culture” for the Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions.

Charlene Spretnak, professor emerita in philosophy and religion, is
the author of eight books on cultural history, feminism, and
religion and spirituality, including Green Politics, States of
Grace, The Resurgence of the Real, Relational Reality, and Lost
Goddesses of Early Greece. She also edited the anthology The
Politics of Women’s Spirituality, and is author of the article
“Anatomy of a Backlash: Concerning the Work of Marija Gimbutas.”

Dr. Mara Keller is Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She is a Goddess thealogian and spiritual feminist philosopher committed to women’s embodied spirituality and multicultural eco-social justice, and has published numerous articles on these topics.

Max Dashu founded the Suppressed Histories Archives in 1970 to research women’s history across the full spectrum of the world’s peoples. She is internationally known for her expertise on ancient female iconography, matricultures, medicine women, and witch-hunting.

Joan Marler is the Executive Director of the Institute of Archaeomythology and is editor of the Journal of Archaeomythology. She is the editor of The Civilization of the Goddess by Marija Gimbutas (1991), From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (1997), The Danube Script (2008), and other publications.

Member Registration

Non-member Registration

Please note: We realize that there may be schedule conflicts during the weekend of the symposium. To give you plenty of time to view the program at leisure, all sessions will remain available, to those who register, for twelve months following the event.