Marija Gimbutas was born as Marija Birutė Alseikaitė to Veronika Janulaitytė-

Alseikienė and Danielius Alseika in Vilnius, the capital of the Republic of Central
Lithuania; her parents were members of the Lithuanian intelligentsia.[1]

Her mother received a doctorate in ophthalmology at the University of Berlin in

1908, while her father received his medical degree from the University of Tartu in
1910. After Lithuania regained independence in 1918, Gimbutas's parents organized
the Lithuanian Association of Sanitary Aid which founded the first Lithuanian
hospital in the capital.[1]

During this period, her father also served as the publisher of the newspaper
Vilniaus žodis and the cultural magazine Vilniaus šviesa and was an outspoken
proponent of Lithuanian independence during the Polish–Lithuanian War.[2]

Gimbutas's parents were connoisseurs of traditional Lithuanian folk arts and

frequently invited contemporary musicians, writers, and authors to their home,
including Vydūnas, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, and Jonas Basanavičius.[3] With regard
to her strong cultural upbringing, Gimbutas said:

I had the opportunity to get acquainted with writers and artists such as Vydūnas,
Tumas-Vaižgantas, even Basanavičius, who was taken care of by my parents. When I
was four or five years old, I would sit in Basanavičius's easy chair and I would
feel fine. And later, throughout my entire life, Basanavičius's collected folklore
remained extraordinarily important for me.[3]

In 1931, Gimbutas settled with her parents in Kaunas, the temporary capital of
Lithuania. After her parents separated that year, she lived with her mother and
brother, Vytautas, in Kaunas. Five years later, her father died suddenly. At her
father's deathbed, Gimbutas pledged that she would study to become a scholar: "All
of a sudden I had to think what I shall be, what I shall do with my life. I had
been so reckless in sports—swimming for miles, skating, bicycle riding. I changed
completely and began to read."