Born as Marija Birutė Alseikaitė to Veronika Janulaitytė-Alseikienė and Danielius Alseika in Vilnius, the capital of Republic of Central Lithuania, she had members of the Lithuanian intelligentsia as parents [REF].
During the Second World War, Gimbutas lived under both Soviet and German occupations from 1940 to 1941 and 1941 to 1943, respectively [REF].