TheEl Mirón Cave is a large cave in the upperAsón River valley towards the eastern end ofCantabria in northern Spain, near the border of the Basque country.[1] It is anarcheological site inRamales de la Victoria. It is known for a skeleton belonging to a woman nicknamed TheRed Lady of El Mirón. She is estimated to have died around 18,700 years ago, during theUpper Paleolithic (Magdalenian).[2][3] The skeleton is estimated to be that of a woman between 35 and 40 years. Her bones were coated withochre, a red iron-based pigment, hence, her name.[4]
Striation-engraved red deer scapula from El Mirón Cave.
The cave was discovered in 1903 by amateur archaeologists Hermilio Alcalde del Río and Lorenzo Sierra. It contains a rich collection ofUpper Paleolithic art.[1] Among the prominent art there are the engravings of a horse and possibly one of a bison.[5] The first systematic excavation started only in 1996. The team of archaeologists, led by Lawrence Straus of theUniversity of New Mexico and Manuel González Morales of theUniversity of Cantabria, made a discovery of a number of prehistoric remains. The Red Lady was discovered in 2010. The cave contains a large limestone block towards the rear. A narrow space running through the block was the location of the skeleton.[4]
^abStraus, Lawrence Guy; Morales, Manuel R. González (2013). "El Miron Cave: Geography and Culture". In Smith, Claire (ed.).978-1-4419-0426-3 Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. New York (US): Springer Science+Business Media. pp. 2346–2352.doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2247.ISBN978-1-4419-0426-3.
^González Morales, Manuel R.; Straus, Lawrence G. (2015). "Magdalenian-age graphic activity associated with the El Mirón Cave human burial".Journal of Archaeological Science.60 (1):125–133.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.02.025.
