Milena Rampoldi, ProMosaik, 8/12/2021
Joan Marler is the Founder
and Executive Director of the Institute
of Archaeomythology. She is the editor of The
Civilization of the Goddess (1991) by Marija Gimbutas and From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija
Gimbutas (1997). She worked closely with Marija Gimbutas as her
personal editor from 1987-1994 and lectures internationally on Prof. Gimbutas’
life and work. Joan Marler initiated courses in Archaeomythology at two
graduate schools in San Francisco: New College of California and the California
Institute of Integral Studies. She taught modern, folk and ethnic dance
for 28 years through Santa Rosa Junior College in northern California. From 1982-1996
she worked as an independent producer and radio journalist for KPFA FM,
Berkeley, California. She answered our questions.
What
are the most important objectives of the Institute of Archaeomythology?
The initial objective of the Institute
is to encourage the development and sharing of an archaeomythological approach
to cultural inquiry among international scholars and researchers from a variety
of fields—as well as artists, poets, and writers—with an emphasis on the
beliefs, rituals, symbolism, and social structure of ancient societies. The
Lithuanian/American archaeologist Marija Gimbutas formulated archaeomythology as
an interdisciplinary methodology during the 1980s in order to expand the
interpretative parameters of her field. She incorporated, not only archaeology
and comparative mythology, but a range of other disciplines including
anthropology, linguistics, historical documents, and comparative religion as
well as knowledge of the visual arts and the non-material aspects of culture.
From the beginning of its organization,
the Institute of Archaeomythology has organized international symposia and has
published proceedings and monographs on archaeomythological themes. Publications include the online, open-access Journal of Archaeomythology. The Institute will be expanding its activities
to include more interactive, online events in lieu of in-person symposia due to
the current pandemic and need for ease of access among interested scholars. Its first online international symposium (presented
in collaboration with the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology, in
the US) was presented July 16-18, 2021 in honor of Marija Gimbutas's Centennial
year. See archaeomythology.org for information about obtaining recorded access
to this international event through ASWM. A special Centennial anthology is
scheduled for publication in 2022.
What
has the collaboration with Marija Gimbutas meant to you?
The experience of working closely with
Marija Gimbutas as her personal editor during the last seven years of her life,
traveling with her internationally and interacting with her and with her colleagues
in Central and Eastern Europe was transformative for me. The process of editing her articles for
journals and encyclopedia, then working with her to prepare the text for the
second volume of her magnum opus, The
Civilization of the Goddess (1991), profoundly
shifted my perspective on the history of human cultures. I began to realize that the classical Greeks do
not represent the earliest foundation of European civilization, regardless of
what we've been taught. If you imagine looking
forward through time from the period of Old Europe (c. 6500-3500 BCE)—which Marija
Gimbutas considered "a true civilization in the best meaning of the
word"—the Greeks developed thousands of years later. It was illuminating
for me to know that the non-Indo-European societies of Old Europe were
peaceful, egalitarian, highly artistic, and sustainable throughout the Balkans
and into Central Europe over three thousand years before they were transformed
by warlike, patriarchal, male-dominant, Indo-European pastoralists from the
North Pontic-Caspian steppes. Marija would have been very pleased to know that
her Kurgan theory has been vindicated by ancient DNA evidence.
