M. Gimbutas; Archeologist of Early Europe

Marija Gimbutas, an internationally recognized archeologist whose research into early European cultures convinced her and other experts that women were revered as goddesses 6,000 to 8,000 years ago and that they presided over cities free of war, has died.

Joan Marler, her friend and editor, said she was 73 when she died of cancer Wednesday at UCLA Medical Center.

Author of 20 books and more than 200 articles on European prehistory, the Lithuanian-born Gimbutas was professor emeritus of European archeology at UCLA.

Three of her most recent books--”Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe,” “The Language of the Goddess” and “The Civilization of the Goddess”--challenged established views of neolithic Europe.

She referred to those cultures as “true civilizations,” undisturbed by war and containing organized cities adorned with sophisticated art. The existence of thousands of female images led her to conclude that women were worshiped and the primary deity was a goddess.

One of her most controversial theses was that the world was at peace throughout the Stone Age, with the two sexes living in peaceful coexistence--women running the temples and men performing physical chores--but that this all was eventually replaced by the worship of warlike gods imported by marauding Indo-Europeans.

Although many of her colleagues challenged her conclusions, her work was praised by feminists throughout the world and by such noted figures as mythologist Joseph Campbell.

Gerda Lerner, a University of Wisconsin historian, said that although Gimbutas’ theories might never be proved, they served to “challenge, inspire and fascinate” by providing alternatives to male-dominated cultures.

A native of Vilnius, Lithuania, Gimbutas received a doctorate in archeology in 1946 from Tubingen University in Germany. She immigrated to the United States in 1949, did research at Harvard University and joined the UCLA faculty in 1963.

She retired four years ago after leading five archeological excavations in southeastern Europe.

She won the Outstanding New American award in 1960 and was named a Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year in 1968.

Survivors include three daughters, who ask that contributions be sent to the Marija Gimbutas Annual Lecture Fund, in care of the Institute of Archeology at UCLA.