Long before their discovery by scientists in the late 19th century, many places withprehistoric rock paintings were well known among the traditional inhabitants of thesurrounding areas. These speech communities, which completely lacked any kind ofhistorical or archaeological knowledge, created names by which they could describeand identify the sites of the enigmatic findings. Linguistic and cultural analysis of theproper names thus coined makes it possible to reconstruct the popular reception ofthe phenomenon we now consider rock art, and highlights the mechanisms by whichrealities that are beyond objective comprehension are designated among speakerscharacterized by language competences limited to everyday rural speech and by theparameters of popular Hispanic culture and beliefs.
Stefan Ruhstaller (Fri,) studied this question.