JALE İNAN

WITH HER EXCAVATIONS, RESEARCH AND FINDINGS
A LIFE DEDICATED TO ANTALYA: JALE İNAN (1914-2001)

Nezih Başgelen

Jale İnan is a highly revered archaeologist recognised for her immeasurable contributions to archaeological training in our country, research, excavations, broadcasting, setting up museums, restoration projects and her fight against antiquities smuggling. She is known as the “Esteemed Lady of Archaeology” in Turkey and abroad.

Together with Arif Müfid Mansel she made great contributions to archaeology in Antalya. Starting in 1946, she participated in the excavations in Perge and Side with Arif Müfid Mansel and after his death she continued the excavations with successful team work.

From 1972-1979 she did salvage excavations in the ancient city of Lyrbe-Seleucia located within the district of Manavgat. The ancient baths in Side were restored and entered service as a museum thanks to her efforts.

The excavations in Perge were carried out under her guidance between 1975-1987. The excavations in the Perge Theatre were done from 1985-1992, except for the year 1988. The remarkable sculptural artefacts and reliefs unearthed during her work in the Perge Theatre in those years are among the most outstanding exhibits of the Antalya Museum.

She introduced a significant restoration project in archaeology in Turkey when she carried out repair works at the Temple of Apollo in Side between 1981-1990.

She provided scientific evidence that the upper portion of the Heracles statue carried off to the USA belonged to Antalya. After a long struggle, she demonstrated in front of experts and museum officials in Boston that the upper portion located there belonged to the lower portion of the sculpture in Antalya by bringing a plaster cast of the sculpture and successfully fitting them together. It formed the legal basis of the recovery process.

Jale Inan donated a major portion of her books, which she meticulously collected in her long scientific career, to the Antalya Museum. Thus her colleagues working in the Antalya Museum will be able to benefit from her books.