Marija Gimbutas and the Ethnic Origin of the Baltic Nation

Abstract

Birutė Marija Alseikaitė-Gimbutienė (English Marija Gimbutas), is one of the most prominent and well-known archaeologists of the 20th century, pioneer of archaeomythology, creator of new theories in archaeology. In her scientific research, she paid a great attention to the ethnic origins and development of nations.This article analyzes the Theory of Baltic Ethnic Origins formulated by Gimbutas. The solution to this important scientific problem involves two main research stages. The first stage is formulation of the Theory of Indo-European homeland, named the Kurgans Theory. The second stage is formulation of the Theory of the origins of Balts. According to Gimbutas, a few cultural systems participated in the formation of the Balts: the indoeuropeans and substrat culture, that is Indo-Europeanized people of Central Europe. The Indo-Europeans migrated from their homeland, located in the steppe zone north of the Black and Caspian seas, in three waves between 4400/4200 and 3000/2800 BC, ultimately reaching Europe and Indo-Europeanizing it.A secondary Indo-European Homeland was formed in Central Europe, from which the Indo-European culture spread to the Baltic region and other European regions.The last, third wave of newcomers, from around 3000–2800 BC, had the greatest influence on the southeastern and eastern Baltic region and the surrounding territories. During several centuries of assimilation between local inhabitants and newcomers, around 2500–2000 BC, in the territory between the Vistula River in the west and the Volga and Oka rivers in the east, several cultural groups of Proto-Balts were formed. During further ethnocultural processes, around 2000 BC. the Baltic ethnos was formed. In the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. and in the first part of the 1st millennium AD the Balts inhabited a huge area in the North Eastern part of Europe.