Archaeology

Archaeology is an upcoming mechanic that allows the player to find historical artifacts. This mechanic was originally intended to be part of the Caves & Cliffs update, but it had been delayed three times until the Trails & Tales update.

Discovering artifacts

By using a brush on suspicious sand at desert pyramids and desert wells, players can obtain artifacts and other loot, such as sticks, emeralds, and pottery Shards. If the player breaks or drops a block of suspicious sand, they permanently break these artifacts. Pottery shards can be used to add decoration to decorated pots.

Additions

Blocks

Decorated Pot

• Can be crafted with any 4 pottery shards or brick items, shaped rhombic.
  • The type of crafting material decides which picture will appear on the certain side of the crafted decorated pot.
    • The possible pictures are decided by the type of pottery shard which is used to craft.
    • The brick item will not have a picture.
• Very fragile, and very easy to break it:
  • Will break apart into its crafting materials when breaking it using any block-breaking tool.
  • Will drop itself when breaking it using nothing.

Suspicious Gravel

• Generates in cold ocean ruins and trail ruins.
• Brushing the suspicious gravel with a brush will extract objects.

Suspicious Sand

• Generates in desert temples, desert wells, trail ruins, and warm ocean ruins.
• Brushing the suspicious sand with a brush will extract objects.

Items

Brush

• An item which can be used to brush things.
• Can be crafted with a feather, copper ingot and stick.

Pottery Sherd

• They have pictures on them.
• Different structures contain different pottery shards.
• Contains 20 different variants.
• They cannot be crafted and are only found by brushing suspicious sand.

World generation

Trail Ruins

• A buried generated structure from a lost culture.
• Generates in taigas, snowy taigas, old growth taigas (both types), old growth birch forests, and jungles.
• Comprised of a tower, a path across the bottom, and a few additional rooms attached to the side.
• Contains suspicious sand and suspicious gravel, as well as mud bricks and several colors of terracotta and glazed terracotta.
• Four armor trims and seven pottery shards can be found here.

Gameplay

• The player can find items in suspicious sand or suspicious gravel inside of certain structures by using the brush.
  • In desert pyramids, suspicious sand can contain a pottery shard, TNT, gunpowder, an emerald, or a diamond.
  • In desert wells, suspicious sand can contain a pottery shard, a brick, an emerald, a stick, or suspicious stew.
  • In warm ocean ruins, suspicious sand can contain a pottery shard, a sniffer egg, an iron axe, an emerald, wheat, a wooden hoe, coal, or a gold nugget.
  • In cold ocean ruins, suspicious gravel can contain a pottery shard, an iron axe, an emerald, wheat, a wooden hoe, coal, or a gold nugget.
  • In trail ruins, suspicious sand or gravel can contain a pottery shard, an emerald, wheat, clay, a brick, dyes, a dyed candle, a stained glass pane, a hanging sign, a gold nugget, coal, wheat seeds, beetroot seeds, a dead bush, a flower pot, string, a lead, or an armor trim.

History

October 3rd, 2020					Archaeology was announced at Minecraft Live 2020.
April 14th, 2021					Archaeology was delayed to 1.18.
November 17th, 2021					Archaeology is announced to be added after The Wild Update.
February 10th, 2023					Archaeology is announced to be added in 1.20.
Java Edition
1.20 (Experimental)		23w07a			Added Archaeology.
Bedrock Edition
Next Major Update (Expermiental)		beta 1.19.70.23			Added Archaeology.

Issues

Issues relating to "Archaeology" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery

Developer screenshots

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  Clay pots.

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  Ceramic shards.

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  An excavation site.

Concept artwork

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  Concept art.

References

Gameplay 

View at: Template:Gameplay/content [edit]