Michael Pieter Korvink
 (704) 687-4603 mpkorvin@email.uncc.edu
9201 University Boulevard
Charlotte, NC 28223

ACADEMIC PREPARATION:

   M.A. in Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC-2004   

Concentrations: South Asian Religion
Masters Thesis: Starting from Scratch  A Positional-Statistical Approach to the Indus Script.

   B.A. in Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC-2002

Concentrations: Asian Religion
Thesis: The Indus Script:  Current Methods for Decipherment with an Emphasis on the Rebus Principle and Bilingual Parallels.

 CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS:

-Globalization and Nationalism
-The Indo-Aryan migration debate
-Archaeology of South Asia

HONORS AND AWARDS:

-Association for Asian Studies Southeastern Conference Student Prize Competition.  Awarded at the 42^nd annual meeting 2003.  The essay argues an economic function in the Indus Script and will be published in the Southeast Review for Asian Studies.  

-National Science Foundation Bio-Cultural Research Fellowship at Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, 2002 with Dr. Susan Sheridan and Dr. Robert Haak. (Summer 2002, six weeks)  Investigated the presence of female and male sub-adults by auricular surface elevation and manibular body angle from a commingled osteological collection from St. Stephens Monastery.

PUBLICATIONS:

"The Indus Script: A New Decipherment Paradigm." SAGAR: A South Asia Graduate Research Journal Volume 12 (2004).

"The Linear Hierarchy in the Indus 'Fish.'" SAGAR: A South Asia Graduate Research Journal Volume 14 (2005).

PAPERS AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY:
 

"Challenging the Logo-Syllabic Nature of the Indus 'Fish.'" Presented at the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, January 2005.

"The Linear Hierarchy of the Indus 'Fish' Signs."  Presented at the Asian Studies Graduate Conference at the University of Texas at Austin, October 2004.

"A Positional-Statistical Approach to the Indus Script."  Presented at the 32^nd Annual Conference on South Asia at Wisconsin, October 2003 (Click here for abstract).

OTHER ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

-Excavation:  Gilund, India. December-February 2002-2003. Trench Supervisor. An Ahar culture site in Mewar, contemporaneous with the Early and Mature Harappan periods with Dr. Gregory Possehl (University of Pennsylvania) and Dr. Vasant Shinde  (Deccan Collage) There were five research goals for this season: 1) Study the origin and development in life in Mewar 2) Study of interregional interaction.  3) Study the Ahar-Banas complex sociocultural aspects 4) Study of local economic aspects.  5) Study of transition Chalcolithic to Iron Age. 

-Excavation:  Ein Suba, Israel. Summer 2001 with Dr. Shimon Gibson and Dr. James Tabor.  A two-week excavation of an Iron Age Reservoir later converted to a Mikvah and finally a dwelling.  Occupational layers were from Hellenistic through Arab.  Created a system to organize pottery and other artifacts into an intelligible manner.

-Excavation: Sepphoris (Zippori), Israel. Summer 2000 with Dr. James Strange and Dr. James Tabor.  A three week excavation having Hellenistic through Arab occupation.  Nights and weekends consisted of daily pottery reading, lectures and tours.