09/13/2011
Jennifer C. Ross, who specializes in the archaeology, culture and history of the Near East, particularly Mesopotamia, will discuss the invention of cuneiform, the world’s earliest writing system, and its influence on communication, on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at SUNY Cortland.
Ross, an associate professor of art and archaeology who chairs Hood College’s Department of Art and Archaeology, will present “Cultural Transformation in Mesopotamia: The Invention of Writing and Writers” at 4:30 p.m. in Moffett Center, Room 2125.
Her talk, which is free and open to the public, launches the 2011-12 Rozanne M. Brooks Lecture Series, themed this year on “Culture and the Written Word.”
A 4 p.m. reception to welcome Ross precedes the lecture in Moffett Center, Room 2126. Both the lecture and reception are free open to the public.
As a member of the American Institute of Archaeology, since 2003 Ross is part of an international team excavating the site of Çadir Höyük in central Turkey. The excavation site has shown evidence of occupation from more than 8,000 years ago. Ross recruits her students at Hood College in Maryland as members of the excavation team, providing them with the opportunity to explore the field of archaeology firsthand.
Most of Ross’s research looks at the history of technology through a study of artifacts and textual records from ancient Sumer, which is modern-day Iraq.
Her work has been published in numerous academic journals and she has offered her expertise and knowledge on panel discussions.
A faculty member at Hood since 1999, Ross has taught everything from classical mythology to the art of prehistory to archaeology.
She received an A.B. in classical and Near Eastern archaeology from Bryn Mawr College and an M.A. in Near Eastern studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She earned a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley with a dissertation titled, “The Golden Ruler: Precious Metals and Political Development in the Third Millennium Near East.”
The Brooks Lecture Series honors the late Rozanne Marie Brooks, a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and SUNY Cortland professor of sociology and anthropology. Brooks was a SUNY Cortland faculty member for 36 years; she passed away in 1997. The 2011-12 Brooks Lecture Series is sponsored by a grant from Auxiliary Services Corporation (ASC) and the Cortland College Foundation.
For more information, please contact the lecture series organizer and Brooks Museum director, Sharon R. Steadman, at (607) 753-2308.