Author, Dancer, Founder & Director and Executive Director of the Institute for Archaeomythology
Joan Marler worked closely with Marija Gimbutas as her personal editor (1987-1994) and authorized biographer, and lectures internationally on Marija’s life and work.
Editing
Joan Marler edited two important books by Marija Gimbutas: The Civilization of the Goddess (1991), and From the Realm of the Ancestors: An Anthology in Honor of Marija Gimbutas (1997). Her long-term work is to complete Marija’s biography.
Archaeomythology
Archaeomythology is an interdisciplinary approach to scholarship formulated by archaeologist Marija Gimbutas for the purpose of expanding the parameters of the study and understanding of the multidimensional fabric of human cultures. Special emphasis is placed upon the beliefs, rituals, symbolism, social structure, and systems of communication of prehistoric societies.
This methodology combines a broad range of disciplines including, but not limited to, archaeology, anthropology, mythology, ethnology, folklore, linguistics, comparative religion, genetics, ecology, and history. Such an interdisciplinary approach provides a corrective: if an interpretation formulated through the lens of one or more disciplines is shown to be false through the lens of another discipline, the original interpretation must be reexamined.
Radio
From 1995-1996, Joan hosted the weekly radio show “Voices of Vision,” KPFA where she was an independent producer. The show featured many great scholars of the Goddess movement.
This is where she interviewed Marija Gimbutas for the first time.