José María Soler García was a Spanish archaeologist, historian, researcher and folklorist. He is one of the persons who most deeply studied Villena and its surrounding area, since the vast majority of his research was focused on what concerned his hometown.
In 1957 he founded Villena's Archaeological Museum with the findings he had collected from the 1920s on. In 1963, after he found the Treasure of the Cabezo Redondo in March and the Treasure of Villena in December, the museum's name was officially changed to Archaeological Museum "José María Soler". The José María Soler Foundation,[2] constituted after his death, calls every year Research Awards in order to keep alive Soler's legacy.[3]
Soler has written several books on his archaeological works, some others on historical or folkloric research and even one dictionary on Villena's Spanish dialect. He has written a large number of articles published in newspapers and magazines, and he has also given many lectures all over Spain. A list of his published books follows:[4]
Archaeology
1956. El yacimiento musteriense de "La Cueva del Cochino" (Villena-Alicante)
1965. El tesoro de Villena
1969. El oro de los tesoros de Villena
1981. El Eneolítico en Villena
1987. Excavaciones arqueológicas en el Cabezo Redondo (Villena, Alicante)
1991. La Cueva del Lagrimal
1993. Guía de los yacimientos y del Museo de Villena
History
1948. Crónica de las Fiestas de septiembre de 1948
1969. La Relación de Villena de 1575
1976. Villena: Prehistoria - Historia - Monumentos
1981-1988. Historia de Villena
1993. La colección numismática de José Mª Soler
2006. Historia de Villena: desde la Prehistoria hasta el siglo XVIII (re-ed. 2009)
Linguistics
1993. Dicionario villenero (reed. 2005)
Music and folklore
1979. El Polifonista villenense Ambrosio Cotes
1986. Cancionero popular de Villena (re-ed. 2005)[5]
Other themes
1958. Bibliografía de Villena y su Partido Judicial
1976. I Congreso Nacional de Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos
1984. Soldadescas, Comparsas y Toros
Musicology Award of CSIC, on the Cancionero popular de Villena (1949)[6]
[Spanish] Culture and Education Ministry (26 February 2003). "Resolución de 7 de enero de 2003, de la Dirección General de Patrimonio Artístico de la Consejería de Cultura y Educación, por la que se incoa expediente de declaración de bien de interés cultural a favor de la colección arqueológica del Tesoro de Villena"[January 7, 2003, Resolution of the General Direction on Artistic Heritage of the Culture and Education Council, which opens a file on the declaration as Good of Cultural Interest (BIC) the archaeologic collection known as Treasure of Villena](PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish) (49). Madrid: Spanish Government: 7798–7802. Retrieved December 6, 2009. Desde el punto de vista histórico, artístico y arqueológico, el Tesoro de Villena constituye un «unicum», un depósito no normalizado, por su peso y contenido (A. Perea). De hecho, se trata del segundo tesoro de vajilla áurea más importante de Europa, tras el de las Tumbas Reales de Micenas en Grecia (A. Mederos). [From a historic, artistic and archaeological point of view, the Treasure of Villena constitutes a "unicum", a non-normalised deposit, according to its weight and content (A. Perea). In fact, it is the second most important golden tableware finding in Europe, after that of the Royal Graves in Mycenae in Greece (A. Mederos)]
"Presentado el Cancionero de Soler"[Soler's Cancionero presented] (in Spanish). El Periódico de Villena. February 6, 2006. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved October 21, 2009.
ROJAS, Alfredo; PRATS, Vicente (2002). De Villena y los Villeneros[Of Villena and their inhabitants] (in Spanish) (1sted.). Villena: Apadis, M.I. Ayuntamiento de Villena & C.A.M. ISBN84-607-4789-1.
