A Mesolithic culture, related to Tardenoisian, developed in southern Russia before 3000 B.C. and was followed by an Early Neolithic, resembling the Campignian. A rich Late Neolithic and Bronze Age development, related in some details to that of northern Persia, had its center in the Kuban area in the 3d millennium B.C. From 2500 to 1500 B.C. the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age were represented by two distinct series: Tripolye A and B, in the Ukraine, and the Red Ochre Graves, in the steppe region between the Volga and the Dnieper.
The most important later culture was that of the Scythians, beginning in the 6th century B.C. In northern and central Russia a version of Mesolithic, with Baltic affinities, survived late and, with influences from the so-called Battle-Axe People, developed in the 2d millennium B.C. into the Fatyanovo culture of central Russia.