Marija Gimbutas (Lithuanian: Marija Gimbutienė, born Marija Birutė Alseikaitė) (Vilnius, Lithuania, January 23, 1921 – Los Angeles, United States February 2, 1994), was a Lithuanian-American archeologist, known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe" and the theories that she introduced. Between 1946 and 1971, her writings merged traditional spadework with linguistics and mythologies.