Lower Magdalenian secondary human burial in El Mirón Cave, Cantabria, Spain

The authors describe the discovery of the first human burial of Magdalenian age to be found in the Iberian Peninsula—the partial skeleton of a young adult whose bones were stained with red ochre. The burial was well stratified in a sequence at the vestibule rear running from the Mousterian to the Me...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antiquity 2011-12, Vol.85 (330), p.1151-1164
Main Authors: Straus, Lawrence Guy, Morales, Manuel R. González, Carretero, Jose Miguel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeological dating
Archaeological excavation
Archaeology
Burial
Cantabrian Spain
El Mirón Cave
Engraving
Europe
Excavations (Archaeology)
Funerary archaeology
human burial
Human remains
Lower Magdalenian
Mesolithic
Occupations
Palaeolithic and mesolithic
Prehistoric caves
Prehistoric sepultures
Prehistory and protohistory
Research article
South West Europe
Spain
Upper Palaeolithic
Upper Paleolithic period
Young adults
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Summary:The authors describe the discovery of the first human burial of Magdalenian age to be found in the Iberian Peninsula—the partial skeleton of a young adult whose bones were stained with red ochre. The burial was well stratified in a sequence at the vestibule rear running from the Mousterian to the Mesolithic, and was adjacent to a large block that had fallen from the cave roof and been subsequently engraved. A preliminary AMS radiocarbon date on associated faunal remains from the ochre-stained, galena speckled burial layer yielded a date of 15700 BP, while a hearth directly above the burial is dated to 15 100 BP, placing the interment of this individual in the Lower Cantabrian Magdalenian, the period of most intensive human occupation of El Mirón Cave during the Upper Palaeolithic.
ISSN:0003-598X
1745-1744
DOI:10.1017/S0003598X00061974