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Kostyonki (Russian: Костёнки), is an archeological site near the modern settlement Kostyonki in Khokholsky District of Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on western middle bank of the Don River.
It is known for its high concentration of cultural remains of anatomically modern humans from the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic era.
Ancient human remains
A layer of Campanian volcanic ash from about 45,000 years ago has been found above some of the finds, showing that humans inhabited the site before this.
The earliest directly dated human remains from this site are dated to 32,600 ± 1,100 14C years and consist of a tibia and a fibula, with traits classifying the bones as European early modern humans.
In 2009, DNA was extracted from the remains of a male hunter-gatherer who lived 30,000 years BP (30 kya) and died aged 20–25. His maternal lineage was found to be Haplogroup U2. He was buried in an oval pit in a crouched position and covered with red ochre.
The BBC has reported that sewing needles were found just above the ash layer.
The eruption of the Phlegraean Fields volcano occurred about 39 kya. The explosion of 500 cubic kilometers (120 cu mi) ignimbrite was the largest in the last 200,000 years of European history The ornaments, perforated by hand-operated rotary drill, found at Kostyonki 17 Layer II, predate the volcanic eruption and suggest that the population was "technologically ready" for an incoming volcanic winter.
In the period around 40-24 kya, a latitudinal clinal pattern of modern/Neanderthal traits was indicated in Europe. The Kostyonki sites are located at the more modern eastward end. The assemblage below the volcanic CI tephra layer is associated to the nontransitional local Strelets culture, analogous to Upper Paleolithic cultures from central and western Europe such as the Szeletian culture. This initial cultural development might be attributable to local Neanderthals.