Gimbutas had been raised on the rich folklore of Lithuania, on its fantastical tales of women with supernatural powers. There was the “Baba Yaga,” for instance, considered a witch in Russian folklore, whom Gimbutas described as a Slavic goddess of death and regeneration. In Celtic cultures, she wrote, women enjoyed a relatively high status and were known for fighting in battles. In many of the stories she collected, goddesses, witches, or otherwise supernatural women were described as transforming into animals such as vultures, crows, or goats. The “Andre Mari,” which Basque folklore saw as a
...more
