On 9th July this year archaeological excavations were implemented in San Fulgencio on the early Iberian settlement of ‘La Escuera’ located close to camino del Convenio on urbanisation La Marina.

The archaeological works are being carried out by archaeology students from the University of Alicante, under the direction of D. Lorenzo Abad Casal and D. Jesus Moratalla Jávega professors of archaeology, and teacher Dña. Feliciana Sala Sellés.
The objective of the current work is to clean and then graphically record the archaeological remains of the Iberian temple sanctuary dating back to the third century BC that are visible thanks to the original work carried out by Swedish archaeologist Solveig Nordström from June to November in 1960. Solveig Nordström, currently residing in Benidorm, was invited to see the work currently being performed by the team from Alicante University and he spent a full day with them on Thursday 26th July.

Now 84 years-old she was overjoyed to see her work, carried out 47 years earlier, being brought up to date and catalogued.
In the third century BC the ‘La Escuera’ settlement covered an area of three square kilometres, only a very small section of this early Iberian City site has been revealed to modern day man. The goal of the archaeologists who have worked on this site is to preserve it for future generations. They would dearly love to be able to spend time unearthing more of the ancient city but funding for this is a major obstacle. It takes many months, sometimes years, of delicate and vigilant work to ensure that anything of importance is not missed or damaged during a dig. They will return in July next year to continue the excavations of this important site.

Solveig Nordström is a hero to modern day archaeologists. In 1955 she prevented the destruction of the archaeological remains of an ancient Roman City located in Alicante by lying on the ground in front of the bulldozer that had been brought in to level the ground to make way for a new hotel complex. Her bravery was reported worldwide and this site is now confirmed to be the ancient Roman city of ‘Lucentum.’ Her endeavour culminated in the Lucentum site being designated in 1961 as an ‘Artistic and Historic Monument’ which then afforded it some legal protection. For more information on Lucentum visit this web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucentum After Solveig Nordström’s excavation of the La Escuera site in 1960 she wrote a book detailing her work. This book is remarkable as even by today’s standards it is a very precise record of the archaeological remains.

The new San Fulgencio councillor for culture and the local environment, Mick Blake, stated, “This administration is committed to a new era of communication of information. We want to ensure that everyone in this area knows of local historical treasures. Those who wish to become involved in the protection and conservation of the local environment will be invited to do so. Most of the finds from this site and from the ‘El Oral’ excavations (in the quarry) are on exhibition in the Alicante MARQ museum. We are looking into the possibility of displaying the finds locally and to arranging excursions to the Alicante MARQ museum to view the exhibits there.”

For more information visit the MARQ museum site: http://www.marqalicante.com/web_e/e_marq.htm