People have lived in the territory of present-day Vilnius since the end of the Palaeolithic era. Hunters came to the area in search of woolly rhinos and mammoths, whose bones were found in the Antakalnis district in the 20th century after being buried in the ground for some 14,000 years. But the history of Vilnius as a capital city began during the rule of Gediminas, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, as told by a legend recorded in the 16th century, two hundred years after Gediminas’ death. According to the legend, Gediminas spent the night in the Šventaragis Valley during one of his hunting trips and dreamt that a huge iron wolf was standing on the Curved Hill, howling as if there were a hundred wolves inside him. The sage Lizdeika interpreted the dream by saying that a capital city would one day stand in that exact place and that news of it will spread around the world. This story is similar to the legend of the Roman wolf. Professional mythologists Gintaras Beresnevičius and Algirdas Julius Greimas researched the legend of the founding of Vilnius. Greimas wrote, “I am convinced that the myth is ingrained in the people living in Vilnius. Oh how they proudly speak about Vilnius and how they believe in its mission!”