Use of cinnabar in funerary practices in the Central Pyrenees. Analysis of pigments on bones from the prehistoric burial of the Cueva de la Sierra cave in Campodarbe (Huesca, Spain)

The appearance of red pigments in prehistoric burial sites is frequent. In the study presented herein, composition and provenance pigment sprinkled a dated between Late Neolithic Early Chalcolithic periods Cueva de la Sierra, Campodarbe (Huesca, Spain), were characterized through X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive Raman powder diffraction, sulfur (δ34S) isotope analysis. chemical used could be unequivocally established as cinnabar, S signature pointed to an origin ores Northwestern Iberian Peninsula, ca. 500 km far from site, suggesting alternative Almadén outcrop, main cinnabar source Peninsula. presence Ebro valley, on southern slope Central Pyrenees, forces us rethink complex processes interaction communities that populated north Peninsula during final moments 4th millennium BC.