Jale İnan: Google doodle celebrates first female Turkish archaeologist

Google doodle on September 27, 2022, to celebrate Jale İnan, the first female Turkish archaeologist. She led excavations in Perga and Side which resulted in the expansion of the Antalya Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and worked with the government to return the statue to Turkey. The return of the statue was successfully concluded on this day in 2011.

Jale Ogan was born on 1 February 1914 in Istanbul to Mesture Hanım and Aziz Ogan as their second daughter. Her father was the curator and director of the İzmir Archeology Museum for many years and later became the director of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. She was inspired by her father in the ancient world.

In the 1930s, Jale Inan won scholarships to study archeology at the universities of Berlin and Munich. Unfortunately for her, World War II began shortly after she arrived in Germany. Despite the war around her, she never lost focus on her studies. She stayed through the war and finished her thesis, “Examination of Art History in Sacrifice Rituals on Roman Coins,” from a bunker in 1943.

After Jale Inan completed her Ph.D., she returned to Turkey and became an assistant to the Chair of Ancient History and Numismatics at the University of Istanbul. During this time, she joined an excavation at Perga, an ancient Greek city in Anatolia where she helped unearth one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: The Temple of Artemis.

İnan went on to lead the restoration of several significant ancient cultural sites, such as the Temple of Apollo in Side. Throughout her prolific career, she uncovered so many artifacts that the Antalya Museum had to undergo expansion not once, but twice, to make space for the relics.

Each year, the Antalya Women's Museum bestows the Dr. Jale Inan Award to a remarkable Turkish woman carrying on her legacy.

Also Read: Google doodle celebrates El Salvador Independence Day 2022