A symbolic Neanderthal accumulation of large herbivore crania.

"Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript."

"Funding for this research was provided by the Dirección General de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica de la Comunidad de Madrid, grant no. H2019/HUM-5840 (co-financed by the European Social Fund), and by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, grant no. PCG2018-094125-B-100 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE). The analyses were carried out at the laboratories of the CENIEH-ICTS with the support of the CENIEH staff, and at the Geochronology Laboratory, Jaume Almera Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC). S.G.-S. and L.V. are beneficiaries of predoctoral contracts within the programme H2019/HUM-5840 (co-financed by the European Social Fund). A.M. is funded by a grant from the Junta de Castilla y León, financed in turn by European Social Funds via the Consejería de Educación (BDNS 376062). A.C.D.-G. is a beneficiary of a postdoctoral grant funded by the Complutense University of Madrid (POP-UCM-CT17/17-CT18/17). A.A.-F. is supported by a PhD grant from the Reale Foundation via the Fundación Atapuerca. Currently, M.A.G.-P. is a beneficiary of a technical support staff contract (no. PTA2018-015145-I) from the Fundación General de la Universidad de Alcalá-Museo Arqueológico y Paleontológico de la Comunidad de Madrid, financed by the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad and the MAPCM. L.H.-V. is a beneficiary of a Research Assistant contract (no. PEJ-2020-AI/HUM-18786) co-financed by the European Social Fund, the Youth Employment Initiative, and the Consejería de Ciencia, Universidades e Innovación de la Comunidad de Madrid. M.V.-R. is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Universities with an FPU predoctoral grant (no. FPU18/05632). We thank J. Trueba (Madrid Scientific Films), M. Torquemada (MAPCM), R. Asiaín, F. Jiménez Barredo (CENIEH) and A. Dávila for photography, and the latter for the site’s photogrammetric data. We also thank all those who participated in the restoration of the archaeological and palaeontological materials at the Cueva Des-Cubierta, especially J. Casado, E. Cubedo, A. Serrano, L. Gómez and B. Martín. We also thank J. A. Vallejo for his willingness to help the team at all times during the excavations and I. de Gaspar Simón and A. A. Díez Guerrier for their assistance during experimental work. We also thank Paleolítico Vivo Park for supplying the three Bison bonasus crania used in the comparative analyses and M. Domínguez-Rodrigo for comments on the initial manuscript. The Grupo Mahou-San Miguel and Canal Isabel II Gestión are thanked for their sponsorship, as are the Dirección General de Juventud and the staff of the Los Batanes Youth Hostel for making it possible for the team to stay at their facilities during the excavation campaigns. We also thank the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park and the Pinilla del Valle City Council for their collaboration, along with the many people who, over the years, have been part of the excavation team. We thank the Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural for authorizing the permission to carry out the excavations. A. Burton translated and edited the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript."