History of the founding of the Kostenki Museum-Reserve

Last week the Kostenki Museum-Reserve celebrated its birthday. On July 9, 1991, by decision of the Voronezh Regional Council of People's Deputies, the branch of the Voronezh Local History Museum was granted the status of an independent State Archaeological Museum-Reserve. From that moment Kostenki opened a new chapter in its history as a unique scientific and cultural center that preserves and studies the heritage of prehistoric mammoth hunters.

Today the museum occupies more than 9 hectares on the territory of the villages of Kostenki and Borshchevo, where 26 Paleolithic sites are located, most of which are multi-layered monuments that keep the secrets of millennia. For every visitor there is something special — from the researcher eager to discover new facts about the most ancient history, to the layperson who only wants to touch antiquity for a day and soak up the atmosphere of a distant past.

For many centuries Kostenki have attracted the attention of scientists and archaeologists striving to unravel the mysteries of the lives of our distant ancestors. But intensive excavations are accompanied by the inevitable loss of unique artifacts — those very stones and tools that over time become precious testimonies of human history. Awareness of this vulnerability prompted the outstanding archaeologist Alexander Nikolaevich Rogachyov to a bold and important initiative — to preserve one of the monuments in its original state in order to maintain a living connection with the past for future generations.

Discovery of the bone-and-earth structure and the uncovering of the Kostenki 11 site

The Kostenki 11 site, known on the international scientific stage, was discovered in 1949 when a local resident, Ivan Ivanovich Protopopov, accidentally came across the remains of a mammoth while digging a cellar. In 1951 Alexander Nikolaevich Rogachyov cleared a utility pit and found a fragment of an ancient arrangement made of mammoth bones. In 1960, under his leadership, large-scale excavations began. Archaeologists uncovered a unique structure 9 meters in diameter and five pits for storing food.

These finds made such an impression that the idea of creating a museum became indisputable.

Establishing the museum: challenges and successes

In the early 1960s a group of scientists under the leadership of Alexander Nikolaevich Rogachyov and Andrey Petrovich Solovyov, director of the Voronezh Regional Local History Museum, began developing a museum project. Its goal was to preserve the unique archaeological finds and the bone-and-earth structure. However, implementing this idea encountered numerous bureaucratic difficulties, which greatly slowed the process. Only in 1967 did the authorities make the final decision to build the museum and the road to it. This marked the beginning of a long period of work.

By the centenary of the discovery of the first site in Kostenki in 1979 an international seminar was held, which gave a new impetus to the completion of the museum's construction. Very soon the museum opened its doors to visitors and held its first temporary exhibition. Thus Kostenki became an important cultural center, preserving the heritage of the Stone Age for future generations.

Opening, the early years of operation, the modern museum-reserve

With its opening in the early 1980s the museum in Kostenki became an attraction for schoolchildren, tourists, pioneer groups and work teams. Its popularity quickly grew. People showed a lively interest in the distant past that was hidden in the Don soil.

In 1991 the museum became an independent institution. Today Kostenki is a major research and cultural-educational center. On its territory there are 26 Paleolithic sites. Excavations, lectures, master classes and exhibitions are held. Cooperation with scientific and educational organizations makes the museum a living bridge between the past and the present.

The Kostenki Museum-Reserve is an important center of archaeological research and cultural exchange. Museum staff together with the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences conduct excavations and study finds, replenishing the museum collections. Regular exhibitions and events attract all who are interested in history and culture.