Halet Çambel

Halet Çambel (27 August 1915 – 12 January 2014) was a Turkish archaeologist and Olympic fencer. She was the first woman with a Muslim background to compete in the Olympic Games.

Çambel died at age 97 in Istanbul on 12 January 2014. In Istanbul, Çambel began studying with German archaeologist Helmuth Theodor Bossert (1889–1961), who was professor of archaeology at Istanbul University. In 1944, she received her doctorate for a thesis on the Bronze Age-Iron Age site Hashöyük. From 1947 on, Çambel served as lecturer.

Çambel was also active in promoting the preservation of Turkey's cultural heritage. In the 1950s, she resisted the government's attempt to move the artifacts from Karatepe to a museum. In 2004, she received the Prince Claus Award in the Netherlands.

Çambel was celebrated in an exhibition Cumhuriyet Kadınları Sahneye Çıkıyor: Cevval, Akılcı, Dirençli, Sabırlı ve İnançlı, (Republican Women Take to the Stage: Brave, Rational, Resistant, Patient and Faithful) organised at Goethe-Institut Ankara from 5 December 2023 to 4 February 2024 in honour of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey and the 90th anniversary of Turkish women gaining the right to vote. It showcased the lives and careers of six women who were educated in the young Turkish Republic and the Weimar Republic and whose careers made an impact on the world. Alongside Çambel, the exhibition featured computer scientist Marianne Laqueur, architect Mualla Eyüboğlu Anhegger, Semiha Berksoy, Turkey's first Muslim opera singer, paediatrician Erna Eckstein Schlossmann and architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky.