Annual Spring Dinner

Thursday, May 12, at the Skating Club

If you think the era of swashbuckling archeologists like Indiana Jones is over, you need to meet Professor Jason Ur of Harvard, who will speak at our Spring Dinner May 12. He essentially operates in the same time period as the fictional Jones (the 1930s) because no Harvard expedition has been to Kurdish northern Iraq since the early 1930s, and war has raged so much of the time that archaeologists know little more about the area than they knew 80 years ago. It’s the same place where ISIS has recently destroyed ancient monuments.

 

While Jones used secret clues to find treasures of gold, Professor Ur uses declassified spy satellite photos to find sites of early civilization and the roads that connected them. You can see those features in the photos taken from space. And while Jones raced against competitors, Jason Ur is racing against full-speed development of this Kurdish territory which will erase many of those landmarks in the next several years. He’d also like to finish before the next war.

 

His work may well change our understanding of history. For instance, archaeologists have long thought that the oldest city in the world is further south in Sumeria. But it turns out the Sumerians inadvertently played dirty pool. They invented the first written language in the world, so they wrote about their cities, not anybody else’s. For the other candidate cities, it was no language, no glory! It may well be that the oldest city in the world is further north, where Professor Ur is looking.

 

Details:

  • Thursday, May 12
  • Cash bar at 6 pm, Dinner at 7 pm, Talk at 8 pm
  • The Cleveland Skating Club, 2500 Kemper Road, Shaker Heights
  • Price and reservations:
    • Harvard Club Members and their guests $45
    • Non-Members $55
    • $10 dessert only and talk (please arrive at 7:45 sharp for this option.)
       
  • Alternately, you can mail a check to arrive by May 9 at HCNEO, P.O. Box 5228, Cleveland OH 44101-0228.
  • Dinner Choice: As you check out from making your reservation online, please list attendee names and specify either a chicken or vegetarian meal. Special dietary requests are available at whatever charge the Skating Club bills us.

Contact Club President Julie Agar at DJulieAgar@gmail.com if you have any questions.

We hope to see you at the Skating Club for this annual HCNEO tradition.

Warm Regards,

Julie Agar '88

HCNEO President

When:

11:00AM - 2:30PM Thu 12 May 2016, Eastern timezone

Where:

Cleveland Skating Club
2500 Kemper Road
Shaker Heights, OH 44120

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