Toponymy: living memories of our past?

Abstract

The information provided by thousands of archaeological excavations gives us information on the existence (or not) of human occupation and the respective chronological period. However, in addition to this type of material evidence, there is also the analysis of oral tradition and onomastics that can greatly contribute to identifying or better cataloguing sites and artefacts. In this context, toponymy in most cases translates reminiscences of a past that can be quite distant and is part of the cultural memory of our populations, especially those in rural areas, who usually tend to preserve and pass on legends and collective memories orally. In this paper, we seek to analyse how toponymy reflects ancient memories by matching names/toponyms to specific types of archaeological sites.