Review
She was one of the first women to direct archaeological excavations in the province of Alicante, at a time and in a very masculine professional world. She contributed significantly, despite her early retirement from archaeology, to research on antiquity in the province of Alicante and the south-west of the peninsula. Solveig Nordström has been closely linked to archaeological work and the defence of heritage in the province of Alicante, where she published her thesis. She has gone down in history as the archaeologist who prevented the destruction of the Lucentum site by standing in front of the bulldozers and has received numerous awards, including the naming of the urban park next to the Tossal de Manises after her.
Justifications
- The risk of heritage loss in the Albufereta area is due to the change in land use in the area between the 1950s and 1960s, from agricultural land to tourist and residential use, a time when Solveig Nordström developed her archaeological activity.
- Solveig Nordström has been closely linked to archaeological work and the defence of heritage in the province of Alicante, where she published her thesis. She has received numerous awards, including giving her name to the urban park that is next to the Tossal de Manises.
- She has gone down in history as the archaeologist who prevented the destruction of the Lucentum site by standing in front of the bulldozers.
Biography
Solveig Nordström (1923-2021) was born in Stockholm. After studying classical literature and archaeology, she arrived in Alicante in 1955. From the beginning, she was closely linked to the city's Archaeological Museum, contributing to the remodelling of its permanent exhibition, alongside her teacher José Lafuente Vidal. In her investigations she became interested in the Carthaginian remains in the province of Alicante and this is demonstrated in her book Los cartagineses en la costa alicantina (1962). She directed the excavation of the Iberian site of La Escuera in 1960, highlighting her work on Iberian painted ceramics, all of which is collected in her book "Excavations in the Iberian settlement of La Escuera (San Fulgencio, Alicante)" published in 1967, recognized as an archaeological work of great value. In her doctoral thesis, which she presented at the University of Stockholm, she makes a detailed study of Iberian painted ceramics in Alicante: "La céramique peinte Ibérique de la province d'Alicante" (1969-1973).
Solveig Nordtröm remained active and residing in Benidorm, where she settled in the 1960s, until her death. Nordström collaborated with the Allan Kardec Spiritist Studies Group, promoting the spread of this movement in her country of origin.
She died in Benidorm on 21 January 2021, at 97 years of age.
She has gone down in history as the archaeologist who prevented the destruction of the Lucentum site by standing in front of the bulldozers and has received numerous awards, including the naming of the urban park next to the Tossal de Manises after her.
Works
Los cartagineses en la costa alicantina (1961)
Excavaciones en el poblado ibérico de La Escuera (1967)
Thesis: La céramique peinte ibérique de la province d’Alicante (1969-1973)
Bibliography
“La arqueología en femenino”, no. 2, Solveig Nordström. Marq.
Alicante Vivo, 31/03/2022, http://www.alicantevivo.org
Historia del Tossal de Manises en papel, 31/03/2022, http://www.lucentumysuhistoriaenpapel.com
Marq Alicante, 31/03/2022, https://www.marqalicante.com
Saguntum. Papeles del laboratorio de arqueología de Valencia, 17/03/2022, https://ojs.uv.es/index.php/saguntumextra/article/view/3807/3372
Didactic approach
In geography of 3rd of ESO, she can be studied to understand the evolution of the geographical space in which the city of Lucentum is located, in the Albufereta of Alicante, and the conflicts of land use in relation to the preservation of heritage through of the figure of this archaeologist.
In Geography and History in Year 1st of ESO, mention can be made of her role as a defender of heritage by studying Prehistory and Ancient History, linking it to the Lucentum site in Alicante.
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