In 2005, hundreds of earthenware pots and other pre-Columbian artifacts from ancient West Mexico became part of the collections of Wake Forest University\u2019s Museum of Anthropology. The objects donated to the collection included 162 complete ceramic vessels, ceramic figurines, greenstone beads and necklaces, an obsidian spear and arrow points, knives and grinding stones.<\/p>\n
An effigy bowl from this Western Mexican Collection is one of three cultural objects inspiring a Blockchain challenge in the upcoming\u00a0Wake Forest Hackathon March 6 and 7. Others include a Fijian oil bowl discovered by the 18th Century British explorer Captain James Cook, and antiquities from sites in Southwest Niger.<\/p>\n
In its fourth year, the WFU Hackathon is organized and hosted by Wake Forest computer science students. Undergraduate and graduate students nationwide are invited to participate in this year\u2019s remote event to explore ways that blockchain technology can aid in the historical tracking and restitution of cultural property. Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult \u2014 if not impossible \u2014 to change, hack or cheat the system.<\/p>\n
What the students discover may help museums and art collectors worldwide.<\/p>\n
Software development hackathons are 24- to 72-hour marathons of coding to rapidly plan and test potential solutions to a specific problem. Students focusing on the blockchain track of the WFU Hackathon will choose from among three hypothetical challenges based on cultural objects in collections housed in Wake Forest\u2019s Museum of Anthropology. Each scenario suggests a source community has expressed a desire to explore ownership rights to cultural artifacts. Teams will explore how new relationships can be established to include all stakeholders as well as new ownership models and participation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important information for interpreting a museum object is its provenance \u2013 the history of its creation and ownership of the object,\u201d said Andrew Gurstelle, academic director of Wake Forest\u2019s Museum of Anthropology. \u201cFor this next generation of museum leaders, widely accessible and immutable technology could provide a new level of transparency of where an object has been and where it will move in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n