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Let's talk about Archeology!

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Archaeology is coming to Minecraft in update 1.20, and you can try it out right now in Java snapshot and as an experimental feature in Bedrock!

This new system has several components, introducing a new craftable item (the brush) and new blocks (suspicious sand and decorative pots), as well as changes to desert temples and wells. You can read more about how it all works in the changelogs linked below. 

We're still developing archeology, so your thoughts and feedback are greatly appreciated as work continues in the lead-up to the final 1.20 release. Let us know what you think in the comments! 

How to test new Minecraft Features: 
https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/testing-new-minecraft-features

Latest Changelogs:

You can find all previous changelogs in the Knowledge Base in the "Beta Information and Changelogs" category.

 

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  • 3
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    -Brush should have feathers and copper

    -suspicious sand needs to be more common
    - suspicious sand needs more new loot seems like a lot of placeholders
    - should be suspicious gravel/dirt as well

    -decorative pots being the only exclusive feature for archeology would be cool but I feel like it’s missing something. I personally think crafting it is very simple and I prefer the idea of putting it on a campfire. Also more design shards would be nice. I feel like 4 is not enough.

    - the changes to desert wells and temples are awesome as it give them a more uses. Maybe add more suspicious sand there but other than that it’s great

  • 1
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    I love that this is coming back, but i do miss how the old pots worked! This has been fun to plau around with, but i do feel like the brush part of the model doesnt feel much like a brush it more feels like a chisle, but other than that great work!!!

  • 26
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    I think Pots should act a little more 'brittle'. Make them gravity blocks and give them different stages of breakage similar to Anvils. I also think that they should be destroyable by arrows or swords, similar to the Zelda games :D.

  • 3
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    A few fast things;
    1 suspicious sand should generate with more structures as you showed with the teasers, especially the wells, giving more game play as it seems that the sand is a limited resource.
    2 copper in brush recipe as said by many others
    Lightning round done

    So 1 big thing, pots. Decent for some building and interested mechanic getting them, however they are limited by two main factors. 1 is utility, outside of building there's little to use, which is ok but for such gameplay to only be applied one way ends up preventing a lot of people from enjoying it fully. an honestly pretty small fix for that could be giving it storage space, possibly even early game portable storage picking it up with your hands (which is pretty cool btw)
    2 is the color, being stuck to just terracotta basic hurts building options a lot as well, and will take a little more to fix. Primarily I believe this would be a good use for glazed terracotta, adding a block of glazed color could then change the color and outline/background of the pot accordingly. This alone would give so much more value and use to the pots,and match the rest of the update

    Thx and stay well!

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    As a professional archaeologist, I am very excited about this update and can not WAIT to play! I would like to suggest/request that the spelling of "Archeology" be corrected to "Archaeology." 

  • 2
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    1. I think the brush should use Copper and feathers. Many people were excited about giving copper a use, and the brush seemed like the perfect opportunity. Also feathers kind of make more sense..?

    2. Pots should be cooked like their initial concept art. HOWEVER, using campfires instead, so its more obvious to new players. I think the current system with the crafting table isn't very immersive or interesting, and you don't get a full look at the pot you're making with the one angle in the GUI. It's less user friendly. 

    3. Pots should be dyeable honestly.. or maybe just the shard patterns..? They need some sort of color though, either way. They feel really basic and simple right now.

    4. The pots unload from a really short distance, which is pretty unfortunate for builds.

    5. Give the old flower pots these new pot sounds!

    6. Blank, non-archeological pots with no ancient shards should generate in structures with simple loot, perhaps? Like villages, temples, dungeons, etc.

    7. To ride off that, being able to place your own loot you can get out of pots by smashing them would be great! And perfect for mapmakers!

    8. Pottery "Shards" are actually called Pottery "Sherds!"

    9. Maybe some more exclusive armor trims you can only find in archeology would be good?

    10. And finally, I think there needs to be way, wayyy more pottery shard patterns with far more interesting designs. The current ones feel very basic and limited for storytelling.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Pots:
    -Kinda useless outside of decorating
    -Not enough color, add randomly generated colored variations of shards. You can dye shards with dyes.
    Brush:
    -The crafting recipe needs to be changed in my opinion. Instead of two sticks, one stick on the bottom and a copper ingot in the middle. Instead of string, give some use to feathers.
    Dig sites:
    -add stand alone dig sites throughout the world, I liked that concept during the 2020 show.
    -Jungle temple
    -Mineshafts
    -Stronghold
    -Ancient City
    -add nether dig sites
    Loot table:
    -More Pottery Shards
    -Ingots, and emeralds (don’t add diamonds to this, they need to stay rare)
    -add some items for balancing purposes, bones, maps, signs, cracked stones
    -a new armor trim
    Suspicious _____ (more blocks like suspicious sand):
    -Suspicious Dirt
    -Suspicious Soul Sand
    -Suspicious Gravel
    -Suspicious Stone Brick
    -Suspicious Cobblestone
    -Suspicious stone
    -Suspicious Sculk
    -Suspicious Deepslate

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    The recipe for the brush, being 3 string along the top and two sticks like a pick axe doesn't really make much sence.
    The string I feel should be replaced with feathers, giving feathers a good use. Or maybe even feather string feather.
    And then in the middle row a copper ingot for the ring and then at the bottom should be the stick.

    Would make the recipe look like it does for the icon AND feathers make a much better brush then string as it is anyway.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    For the craft we can add a brick in the middle so thanks to an artifact that can be found in suspicious sand we can change the top of the decorative pot. 

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I really hope the block doesn't just crack, I like the old versions where it went down, it made it seem so much more fun when you got to see the item in the block, but then you could get happy that you got a emerald block or something

  • 19
    Registered User commented
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    -More templates

    -That the designs can be tinted, and that the vase also

    -That the brush can be crafted with copper

    -Old system of archeology

     

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    I thought the excavation system was very good I loved the way it finds suspicious sand but I prefer the way that was shown in 2020 in the cave and cliffes the system of placing the fragments in the pot and the structure that was presented in 2020 of being a camp and digging in caves for me I liked it better that way.

  • 13
    Registered User commented
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    VILLAGERS ARCHAEOLOGIST

    This villager would be in the structure that was shown at minecon 2020, the excavation site, this villager would exchange you valuable things, for example, diamonds, for a specific vase design, so it would be worth looking for the archeology pieces, the structure would appear in mangroves

  • 15
    Registered User commented
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    Add spear fragments in archeology.
    It would be great to be able to repair an ancient spear from its fragments, something like a sword but with piercing damage

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    Suspicious sand should sometimes appear around structures such as a pyramid or well, not just inside them.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I don't understand why that Archeology pots make me supsicious, i dont reckon it very pretty and where is this utility. However that could be a good occasion to add some craft to make some single artefact with new power, that will be very nice for fight the boss. And add why not a Archeolog pnj for buy some info for the archeolog location or more tips and tools and sell to him this dull pot 

    I will lov it if a skeleton pharaoh make is apparition in this last temple  (why not make him a sarcophagus, and the player need a keys for open it and start the boss ) 

    <3

  • 36
    Registered User commented
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    Pots might serve as a container! Right clicking with an item on the hand would insert it on a pot and right clicking with an empty hand would retrieve a random one inside of it.

    They would containe a maximum of 16 individual items and could emit redstone signal depending on the items stored in them.

    Finally, this could be used as a potential nerfed shulker box, as long it is picked with silk touch enchantment but they would be inferior since players could not get the specific item they're trying to find.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    The brush should also be used to remove wax and patina from the copper blocks, just like an axe.

  • 18
    Registered User commented
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    It would be great if the pots could be used for storage. So many things you can do if they stored items AND they could be breakable with arrows and Redstone somehow.

  • 2
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    As of the recent snapshot archeology can only be done around the desert wells and desert temples. Similar to the smithing templates, archeology should be done around different structures too. We would need a ancient structure though, and the two structures which could be classified "ancient" are the Jungle Temples and Ocean Ruins. You would need to add more than just suspicious sand though, because random blocks of sand wouldn't look all to well with dirt and gravel. A solution would be to add suspicious dirt and suspicious gravel and then sprinkle them around the ancient structures. With these new blocks we can have pottery shards uniqe to the structure making pots more customizable. The last thing I have in mind is ancient villages. These villages would be the remains of the ancient builders villages in which they lived in many hundreds of years ago. With a structure like ancient villages they could be havens for archeology. with suspicious gravel, dirt, and sand everywhere along with ruined and buried stone and mud houses. unqi or all shards could be found here. As your digging you can dig up the story of what happened there and why they were ruined or abandoned. Along with brushing, you could find buried houses and rooms with loot inside and possible treasure maps and structure maps to mineshafts, temples, strongholds and more. With the ruined houses, there could be a in game reference on how to make golems similar to the ruined portal. (and maybe add Copper golem too)

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    Dear Mojang

    I think the new archeology system is amazing! Some ideas I had in mind that would be cool would be new digsites. For example the ancient cities could have suspicious rubble giving an opportunity for you to find rare skulk artifacts but involves the player in risk of summoning the warden while brushing away rubble, each biome could have a digsite and gives different varieties of artifacts and loot, another cool idea would be to find treasure map fragments and piecing them together to find better loot, there could be suspicious variants of gravel, dirt, and red sand. This could give the player a new archeologist play style thank you.

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    Pots should be dyeable and colored coordinated to the terracotta colors. (what that means if u use red dye it will have the red terracotta texture or similar texture)  

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    At the moment Archeology just isn't hitting right with me. I genuinely feel the system was oversimplified to the point where it isn't exciting or explorative.

    Brush: I actually quite like the brush and the brushing mechanic, however the recipe should be a stick, a copper, and a feather.

    Location: As of now, Archeology is exclusive to suspicious sand found at desert wells and desert temples, I would love to see suspicious dirt and add new archeological digsites/structures

    Loot tables: Due to the rarity and exclusivity of each sussand, the loot tables don't seem to fully match the rarity of the block. If the blocks were easier to come across, digging up a brick or stick would make more sense. And due to the lack of these suspicious blocks it makes it hard to come across, it makes it hard to get quantities of shards for decoration

    Pots:I would love to see a different way to obtain pots rather than just crafting. In Minecraft Live 2020 they had clay pots requiring to smelt it which added a complexity. I also would love to see the shards have different colors by using the resources similar to armor trims. I would also love to see a functionality given to the pot like storing/hiding an item or allowing us to put flowers on top of it. I also think rather than the player fist picking it up, it should just be silk touch.

     I believe a system like this should be a bit complicated to be enjoyable, not as complicated as redstone but it shouldn't be super simplified and dull as it currently is.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    I haven't actually played the preview or snapshot, but I think the decorative pots should have three (3) inventory slots. You know, to give them a small use other than being decorative, and it would be a cool thing for map makers.

    I say three (3) slots because they shouldn't take away from other inventory options and it would make sense as pots usually hold a small amount of stuff. (I personally prefer this over plants being placed in them like others suggested, but that would be cool, too.)

  • 10
    Registered User commented
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    2 sticks and 3 string for the brush shaped like a pickaxe is the worst crafting recipe ever added to the game. It should be feathers and definitely not that shape

  • 4
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    after testing and reading what other people think, here's my feedback:

    - archaeology is awesome, i love the new little hidden room in the pyramids and the way items slowly pop out of the sand when brushed, it's sooo cool

    - the brush should probably be crafted with: a stick, a copper ingot and a feather, since both of those items have little to no uses, and it would be a great opportunity to give them one

    - the texture of the pot should be changed in a way so that when putting one pot on top of another, the transition between the two is seamless/un-noticeable (because right-now it is very noticable)

    - dyeing the pots like we dye terracotta would be really nice

    - the new pot should probably also be able to display flowers and sapplings

    - being able to craft our own sus sand with an item of our choosing hidden inside would be really cool (saw someone else give this feedback and i got to agree, it would be awesome)

    - finally, sus sand from the creative inventory should probably already come with a loot table for easier testing and to more easily play around with it

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    can we please have underground structures just below the ground everywhere in the map regardless of the biome that has different variants of the suspicious block like dirt and gravel? It would be soo cool to be digging some dirt to flatten an area and you stumble across a buried village. This would also give more places that Smithing Template can spawn too.  

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    The brushing mechanic is not as nice looking as it did in minecon, it looks a bit more low budget now. Please change it back.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    In general, i think more suspicious sand could generate in desert pyramids and desert wells, as right now, its quite too rare.
    the new room in the desert pyramid is great, but i think it could not be all covered with sand and suspicous sand, instead just have some piles of those blocks around, but still be open enough to find the room and have see a bit of how it looks. if more rooms were added in the structure, maybe using the space underground, it could encourage more time and exploration in the structure and possible places to find more suspicious sand
    Suspicious sand could be in both older and new rooms of the desert pyramid as it would make it more diverse and longer to explore around.

  • 1
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    The pots are a great addition, but they could be colored and be used to store things or aleast hold big flowers & plants. The pottery shards are pretty great and its a excellent choice how some can only be found in the pyramids and one in the wells, it makes the quest of finding them all be more varied, but more designs of pottery shards could be added, for decoration and diversity of finding them.