Taphonomic study of the human remains from the Magdalenian burial in El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain)

• The Red Lady burial is discovered in El Mirón Cave, Cantabrian Spain.
• First Magdalenian human internment found in the Iberian Peninsula.
• Taphonomy analyses reconstruct the origin of the burial and formation processes.
• A primary funerary practice, with distortion after body decomposition, is evidenced.
• A hypothesis of a secondary deposit is discarded.

This article presents the taphonomic history of the human remains recovered in El Mirón Cave (Cantabria, Spain) and an interpretation of their burial. At the back of the vestibule and within the occupation area of the cave, an interment was made during the Lower Magdalenian, nearly 19 cal. kyr BP. Biostratinomic and diagenetic modifications found on the bones of an individual woman have provided essential information with which to understand the origin of the burial and related formation processes. The skeletal representation, bone modifications, spatial distribution and signs of disturbance within the burial area jointly suggest that the skeletal remains recovered in El Mirón are possibly the result of a primary burial deposition which, after soft tissue decomposition, was disturbed to extract the cranium and most of the long bones. Those bones may have been deposited elsewhere, either inside or outside the cave, perhaps in a partial secondary burial that remains undiscovered. The rest of the skeleton was ritually covered over again with red ochre, sediment and stones. Other than the ochre, no unequivocal grave goods were associated with the human remains.