A study of the artistic corpus of red cave paintings in El Buxu cave (Cangas de Onís, Asturias, Spain)

•The corpus of red paintings at the Buxu Cave (Cangas de Onís, Asturias, Spain) has been defined with two signs, a zoomorph, finger dots, linear strokes, some undefined marks and regular spots.•The studies revealed a new definition of a zoomorphic figure in the Buxu Cave as a deer or a reindeer.•Elemental analysis was performed on series of red pigment and ochre samples, recovered from various strata, using X-ray fluorescence, while uncovering potential chemical links among the samples.•Stratigraphic analysis of some of the red paintings has revealed an overlapping by Solutrean and Magdalenian engravings and black paintings onto the red remains, showing they are the oldest artistic evidences inside the cave.•The stratigraphic studies of the paintings, and the parallels proposed for some of them, place them in a pre-Magdalenian artistic period.