Research

Introduction by Elvira Visciola and Alessandra De Nardis Marija Gimbutas (1921–1994) was one of the most original and unconventional voices in twentieth-century archaeology. Trained as an archaeologist and linguist, she was able to combine scientific rigor and an interdisciplinary vision, proposing a radically new interpretation of prehistoric European civilizations. At the heart of her work is…

by Alessandra de Nardis Not long ago, it was still taught that Homo Sapiens, then nicknamed Cro-Magnon[1], had arrived in Europe about 40.000 years ago and that he had gradually replaced the Neanderthal man, who finally became extinct 35.000-30.000 years ago. We were still firmly attached to the idea that we, Sapiens,…

by Eleonora Ambrusiano Valentia is a practically unknown deity although her name has historically remained well present and widespread in the toponyms spread throughout Umbria in the Terni area in particular (Valenza, a neighborhood and area in the city and, in the first outskirts, the hills of Valenza, and again Collevalenza village in the…

The recent death of Andrew Colin Renfrew, one of the great archaeologists of the last and present century, reopens the debate on the origin of the Indo-Europeans; his name is in fact linked to the Anatolian hypothesis as the original homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, a theory opposed to the Kurganic one of Marija Gimbutas, according to which the Proto-Indo-Europeans would be…

by Alessandra de Nardis and Elvira Visciola In 2020, a short article was published on the pages of Preistoria in Italia, "A necklace of deer teeth from 16.000 years ago", on a particular object found in a burial discovered in 1934 in southern France. western, in Saint-Germain-La-Rivière, dated to the Middle Magdalenian,…

Introduction by Luciana Percovich It will take more than thirty years for my theses to be recognized, Marija Gimbutas repeated a few years before her death. Aware of the extent of her vision and her foreignness – not only geographically but culturally in a WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) world, which…

by Enrica Tedeschi Those who considered her indigenous and autochthonous (Vespasian and Titus Tatius) defined her as daughter of Sabo, mythical king of the Sabines, and granddaughter of Sanco (god of oaths, main male Sabine deity). According to other narratives (Varro and Dionysius of Halicarnassus), the goddess arrived in Italy with the Pelasgians...

by Francesca Principi The large knotted rings are one of the most characteristic symbols of the Piceno culture even though they remain, to this day, finds whose true meaning remains mostly obscure. To understand the cultural context in which these objects were created, it is of fundamental importance to make a premise on identity…

Autochthonous civilizations lit up along the coasts of the Danube, with strong signals of equal and community culture. A tribute to Marija Gimbutas, visionary archaeologist. by Harald Haarmann and Mariagrazia Pelaia Discovering Ancient Europe. In the preface to her fundamental work entitled The Civilization of the Goddess (1991; transl. It .: La civilization…