Name creation as an interpretation of the incomprehensible. Traditional popular names of cave art sites in Spanish speech communities

Abstract

Long before their discovery by scientists in the late 19th century, many places with prehistoric rock paintings were well known among the traditional inhabitants of the surrounding areas. These speech communities, which completely lacked any kind of historical or archaeological knowledge, created names by which they could describe and identify the sites of the enigmatic findings. Linguistic and cultural analysis of the proper names thus coined makes it possible to reconstruct the popular reception of the phenomenon we now consider rock art, and highlights the mechanisms by which realities that are beyond objective comprehension are designated among speakers characterized by language competences limited to everyday rural speech and by the parameters of popular Hispanic culture and beliefs.