José María Soler García

José María Soler García (30 September 1905 – 25 August 1996) was a Spanish archaeologist, historian, researcher and folklorist. Much of his research focused on the area around the city of Villena, Soler's hometown.

After almost 30 years of fieldwork, Solar founded Villena's Archaeological Museum in 1957, showcasing his findings. In March of 1963, he discovered Tesorillo del Cabezo Redondo (the Treasure of the Cabezo Redondo) in March and the Tesoro de Villena (Treasure of Villena) in December. Along with the addition of these discoveries, the museum's name was officially changed to Archaeological Museum "José María Soler". The José María Soler Foundation, constituted after his death, sponsors annual Research Awards in order to keep Soler's legacy alive.

Publications Treasure of Villena, the second biggest gold finding in Europe. Soler wrote several books on his archaeological works, some others on historical or folkloric research and even one dictionary on Villena's Spanish dialect. He wrote a large number of articles published in newspapers and magazines, and he also gave many lectures all over Spain. A list of his published books follows:

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) 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

Awards Musicology Award of CSIC, on the Cancionero popular de Villena (1949) Golden Medal of Villena (1973) Bronze Medal in Fine Arts (1980) Doctor honoris causa by Universidad de Alicante (1985) In addition, Villena's City Hall gave his name to one street in the old part of the city in 1979.