Jane Dieulafoy (29 June 1851 – 25 May 1916) was a French archaeologist, explorer, novelist, feminist and journalist. She was the wife of Marcel-Auguste Dieulafoy. She and her husband excavated the Ancient Persian city of Susa and made various discoveries some of which are displayed in the Louvre museum.
Career
Jane Dieulafoy was born Jeanne Henriette Magre to a wealthy family of bourgeoisie merchants in Toulouse, France. She studied at the Couvent de l’Assomption d’Auteuil in a suburb of Paris from 1862 to 1870. She married Marcel Dieulafoy in May 1870, at the age of 19. That same year, the Franco-Prussian War began. Marcel volunteered, and was sent to the front. Jane accompanied him, wearing a soldier's uniform and fighting by his side.
With the end of the war, Marcel was employed by the Midi railways, but during the next ten years the Dieulafoys would travel in Egypt and Morocco for archaeological and exploration work. Jane did not keep a record of these journeys. Marcel became increasingly interested in the relationship between Oriental and Western architecture, and in 1879, decided to devote himself to archaeology.
The Dieulafoys first visited Qajar Iran in 1881–1882, and would return twice after that (the last time in 1884). The first journey was by freighter from Marseille to Constantinople, by a Russian boat to Poti on the east coast of the Black Sea, and then across the Caucasus, and via Azerbaijan to Tabriz. From there they travelled widely through Tehran, Isfahan, and Shiraz. Jane Dieulafoy documented the pair's explorations in photographs, illustrations, and writing. She took daily notes during her travels, which were later published in two volumes. Jane photographed monuments, archaeological remains, men, women and groups. After returning to France, from these photographs drawings and engravings were made by various artists, that were published in the travelogue La Perse, la Chaldee, la Susiane, containing 336 lithographs, including fifty portraits of women.
