The term bird goddess was coined by Marija Gimbutas with relation to figurines attributed to the Neolithic Vinca culture. These figurines show female bodies combined with a bird's head. The interpretation as "goddess" is part of Gimbutas' program of feminist archaeology depicting the European Neolithic as a "gynocentric" culture that would be ousted by the "patriarchal" Indo-European cultures with the onset of the Bronze Age.