Our ancestors were incredibly talented. Nearly 4,000 years ago, the Babylonians used Pythagorean triples to survey land, a thousand years before Pythagoras. The ancient Egyptians managed to build the pyramids, something that still sparks awe and fascination today.

The Sumerians developed a highly sophisticated form of writing 5,000 years ago, and the Aztecs and Mayans were able to precisely track the movement of stars in the night sky to build ancient calendars.

These artifacts are merely those that are still visible. Recent excavations at Göbekli Tepe, an 11,500-year-old temple, showed that early human civilizations were more advanced than previously thought, with large-scale building projects and stylized art. From the Ice Age to the Late Bronze Age Collapse, many artifacts have been forever lost, but those that remain offer us a glimpse into the lives of our ancestors.

Imagine, then, the value of being able to immortalize these artifacts, both tangible and intangible, preserving them for perpetuity. Quantum Temple is a Web3 platform doing just that, using blockchain technology to preserve cultural heritage and enable equitable exchanges between conscious collectors and ancestral communities.

Through the minting of digital, physical, and experiential NFTs — which encode various expressions of cultural heritage — Quantum Temple is able to amplify the stories of culture keepers and increase the awareness and recognition of their knowledge, traditions and artforms. These NFTs can include both tangible artifacts, such as decorative and ceremonial artworks and intangible cultural heritage, such as dances, ceremonies, music, and languages among others.

Artifacts Offering a Glimpse Into Lost Traditions

Artifacts at Göbekli Tepe range from pictographs of religious ceremonies to large stone pillars. Our understanding of these ancient societies, however, is extremely limited — only a fraction of the artifacts survived, and we are still piecing together their stories even after years of research. Instead, our understanding of these cultures is subject to the interpretation of scholars and storytellers.

Even something as simple as a recipe can be drastically different depending on who is making it, what ingredients are available and the interpretation of the recipe itself. The authenticity of the recipe is lost — as is a complete understanding of what it truly meant to our ancestors.

Quantum Temple seeks to solve this problem by creating a digital record of artifacts, or traditional cultural expressions, allowing us to track the changes in their interpretations and remaking them in an unaltered state. These expressions may be either tangible, intangible, or, most usually, a combination of the two. Indeed, in any material object, there is often a symbolic or religious element from which it cannot be separated. An example would be a woven rug (a tangible expression) that expresses elements of a traditional story (an intangible expression).

Using the NFTs minted on the Ethereum and Algorand blockchains, Quantum Temple is able to create an immutable record of cultural heritage that can be accessed centuries later. The NFTs themselves are artfully crafted, capturing the meaning of cultural artifacts through videos, 3D and academic curatorial descriptions.

Creating a Vibrant Exchange Between Collectors and Ancestral Communities

The creation of these artifacts is not only about preserving history for perpetuity; it also creates a vibrant exchange between collectors and ancestral communities. Through this exchange, Quantum Temple hopes to provide incentives for communities to preserve their heritage. Every time an NFT is traded or minted, a fixed percentage of proceeds will be automatically deposited into the wallets of culture keepers — providing them with an equitable income in perpetuity.

Furthermore, Quantum Temple’s Cosmic Membership allows philanthropists and culture patrons to join a social impact fund and make decisions on how best to deploy the regenerative impact funding to support culture keepers and their heritage around the world. This incentivizes members of ancestral communities to continue preserving their heritage, as they are now able to see direct returns from their work.

For the launch, Quantum Temple is partnering with local institutions to mint NFTs based on Balinese heritage. The description and video content of one NFT is curated by Professor Steve Lansing, a noted cultural anthropologist, and the curatorial description is placed in the metadata to guarantee the authenticity of the NFT media content on-chain. As one example of intangible cultural heritage, one NFT showcases the Chandrawasih, a dance of the Bird of Paradise.

Ultimately, Quantum Temple seeks to preserve our rich and valuable cultural heritage for future generations to enjoy authentically. Tangible and intangible artifacts offer us a glimpse into the past, connecting us to our ancestral roots and preserving the stories of our culture keepers. However, they’re at risk of being lost as time passes. By creating digital artifacts that can be tracked and exchanged, we hope to give people an opportunity to view and appreciate traditional knowledge from our ancestors in an unaltered state.