# Modern humans at Kostenki (-43000)

URL: https://history-russia.com/timeline/-43000-modern-humans-at-kostenki
Categories: main-event

The Kostenki-Borshchevo sites on the Don River near Voronezh hold some of the oldest evidence of anatomically modern humans in Europe, dated to roughly 45,000-40,000 years ago. Hunters there built dwellings from mammoth bones and made ornaments and tools of stone and ivory. The genome of the Kostenki 14 individual, over 37,000 years old, shows ancestry shared with later Europeans. Kostenki demonstrates that the East European Plain was settled by modern humans very early despite its harsh Ice Age climate.

## Why it matters
Kostenki demonstrates that the East European Plain was settled by modern humans very early despite its harsh Ice Age climate.

Ruler at the time: [Prehistoric Russia](https://history-russia.com/rulers/prehistoric-russia)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Kostenki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostenki)
- [Wikipedia — Kostyonki–Borshchyovo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kostyonki–Borshchyovo)
- [Wikipedia — History of Russia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Russia)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Modern humans at Kostenki](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Modern+humans+at+Kostenki)
- [Wikipedia — Timeline of Russian history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Russian_history)