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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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  • 6
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    Pots are cool, an inventory inside of them to store items you then smash out of them would be fun. Also the ability to plant 2-tall flowers or bigger plants in them would be great for giving them decorative use.

    Archeology could use more than just sand, like suspicious dirt/gravel/mud. Right now it's pretty niche and might not seem worthwhile to everyone, so tying it to exploration and adventuring would be a huge incentive. Maybe an underground treasure map item that leads to a dungeon, ancient city, or a new structure, to help players who can't find any in caves due to random generation. Ocean monuments and woodland mansions have explorer maps so there is precedent to make finding structures easier. If archeology has a way to lead you on an adventure it will be more exciting every time you find a dig site, and not just feel like a minute of getting random loot.

  • 4
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    Bring back the Copper Golem
    Perhaps with this I am being demanding, but without a doubt this would contribute a lot to the archaeological one, taking advantage of the mechanics of digging up items, perhaps it would be great if one of the excavations that you are carrying out you find this little friend, that you would find it in the form of an item and then you could put it anywhere, obviously you would find it rusty but with the axe or if you make lightning strike it, you would remove the rust. Besides, another way to find it would be breaking pots and this also entails that pots are generated in the structures (either in the desert temples, jungle temples or oceanic ruins) either in the main rooms or in the secret rooms, and that these give you rewards when broken and one of them would be the copper golem that would be generated when breaking the pot.

  • 6
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    Decorated pots could be affected by gravity and shatter back into the the pottery shards and bricks when they fall.

  • 5
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    The brush should be crafted with 1 copper and 1 string in place of the sticks and then 3 feathers.

  • 2
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    In my opinion, the old way to make clay pots that we saw in Minecraft Live 2020 was better.
    It could also use a potter's wheel that works just like a stone cutter, but instead of cutting stones it cuts clay into different types of pots, and it could also be the way to put the pottery shards on the pot and paint it, then cook it inside a furnace or kiln. the pot should not break instantly unless you smelt it again to get a cracked pot,a cracked pot will lose its colour and design,you can fill the pot with 64 different items like a bundle using hoppers 

  • 2
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    If you stop brushing half way you should lose the artifact

  • 1
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    I think that pot should contain storage if not they could be filled with water or maybe work like flower pot but bigger.

    There should be fifth pottery shard (because that way we could have functional chess in Minecraft)

    There should more dig sites around the overworld and each should have a unique loot to get (like with desert well and piramid which makes players encouraged to explore more) for example: sniffers egg could be only found in one type of dig site.

    What would be nice is more unique loot that can not be crafted from dig sites.

    More new small structures (like the hidden room in desert piramid is something that I think a lot of players would appreciate.

    Brush should be Crafted with feathers instead of string.

  • 3
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    Can you expanded archelogy a bit more and and a new structure for archeolgy

      

  • 0
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    you should be able to dig up rubies through archeology and use them to craft amulets

  • 2
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    I think we need more places to excavate, such as: the beach, the taiga or giant taiga, the dark forest. Also more ceramic shards are needed, each of the above excavation sites would have their own unique ceramic shards. It would be nice to encounter a small archaeology camp around the world, the chance of finding one would be like a pillager outpost.
    What if the player could put flowers 2 blocks high in vases?
    A new smithing template, Excavations, could be obtained during excavations with a small chance.

  • 1
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    Have brushes spawn in chests of structures with suspicious sand (so, like, in the desert temple chests) to make players more likely to understand that they should use the brush on suspicious sand.

    (i made a comment here earlier about how to make new players understand to use the brush on suspicious sand, but this seems way better and simpler and more obvious. i wouldn't be surprised if you guys at Mojang are already planning this.)

  • 4
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    please make it so that when creating pots on a workbench, you can put one item in them, which will drop when the pot is destroyed with an ax.

     
  • 1
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    Currently crafting the decorative pots seems a little unintuitive. It might be a bit more expensive, but I feel like you should be able to right click the shards onto the pots. It'd be easier to control where each specific shard is placed. Maybe you could even remove the shards with the brush and change it to a different one

  • 2
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    Decorated Nether Pots. The game has bricks and nether bricks, so it would complete the set already in the game.

  • 19
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    I’ve been reading a lot of stuff across Twitter and forums and the general consensus seems to be that they’re great but could be fleshed out further:

    • Dyeable Pots
    • Dyeable ceramic shards
    • Being able to store something in pots, items, tall flowers, etc.
    • Smaller pots, (Stackable like sea pickles or flower petals(
    • Altering the shape to look more like the old one (perhaps a middle ground between old/new)
    • More Shard Variation (creeper, tree, dragon etc)
    • More unique loot
    • More dig sites / “suspicious” variants of blocks across different locations
    • Reverting to old brushing animation texture (or some middle ground, maybe item comes out bit by bit rather than popping out)
    • Burning your clay pot: craft a clay pot and add the shards onto the side, use a fire underneath to make them solid (like MC Live)
    • Clear indications of how the brush works (as some new players may not understand its use of ever experience it without outside knowledge) although I think that’s due to a larger issue with progression in MC atm though, could use more intuitive advancements?
    • Change brush crafting recipe to include copper, most common suggestion I’ve seen is stick, copper ingot, and feather diagonally.
    • More brush functionality, (let’s you cycle through paintings for example)

    I know that’s a lot, and Mojang ofc can’t add everything! But hopefully this collated feedback helps even spark an idea or is easy for reference?

    Keep up the great work!

  • 1
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    The designated area and new part of desert temples adding suspicious sand is a brilliant addition! I love it. I think more defined dig sites around villages would be great too!

  • 2
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    Random idea, would it be nice that the player can craft its own Suspicious sand with chosen loot in it? That way we can have minigames with other players with finding stuff. So the crafting will of course need one of your own items and not that it will generate itself, likewise placing it in creative mode wont generate it too.

     

    Also, Archeology is just amazing and I feel this can be expanded into having digsites in Desert caves too. Have a bit more variation on like 8 pottery art types and then have like art 1-2-3 only in wells, type 4-5 in pyramids and 6-7-8 in caves. That way you encourage exploration ever more!

  • 3
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    I feel like archeology is a great feature to encourage exploring! but the stuff that was added in this snapshot sure did leave a room for more, which I guess is planned down the road
    But some stuff I would really like to see, besides more digging sites, is maybe an expansion of the pottery features.

    This could come in different types of pots, like the ones from the minecraft live, or more pot types in general. adding the ability to color them or to add the shard dynamically (similar to the new bookcases)

    And in general, I am really hoping for some more stuff you can dig up from the digging sites! This can be an opportunity to introduce more "ancient" stuff and findings that can resemble cultures or self-expression! imagine finding an ancient instrument that you can play music with, like the goat horn, or some vanity items like banner patterns, armor trims, and more ways to express yourself!

    maybe we can even loot up some ancient ores? ancient weapons and armors? the possibilities to expand the minecraft world seems endless!      

  • 3
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    I really like how the new sand is found and dug, it gives the right feel of being an archeologist in my opinion. the fact that the sand breaks if it falls is also a very nice touch.
    My only gripe is that I would never have found the stairs in the desert temple had I not used commands. I think if one stair were slightly uncovered it would give the right idea that there's something more to discover!

    One suggestion I do have though: being able to place an item inside pots, so that players can get it when the pot breaks.
    This is something that is very reminiscent of "The Legend of Zelda" and I think it could work because:

    • decorated pots break when moved by pistons anyways, no container rule is being broken here
    • It would only contain one item, it wouldn't be very useful, but could be wonderful for empowering storytelling!
    • This gives another reason for pot decoration, as it could hint what's inside the pot!

    In addition: allow players to craft suspicious sand, for similar reasons!

  • 4
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    I would like to glaze the pots, the standard glazed one could be like ancient Greek (black outline or fill), afterwards you can colour it, which gives it a more Chinese look.

  • 2
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    The prize shard texture doesn't look vanilla, I suggest if it is based on a minecraft gem make it similar to it.

  • 4
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    As many other people have already suggested, I would love for the brush crafting recipe to include copper and feathers instead of string, it makes so much more sense with the texture. Feathers and copper both only have three uses, feathers as arrows, book and quill and in fireworks stars and copper as spyglass, lightning rod and building blocks. String has nine unique crafting recipes it is used in, no need to give more uses to it.

  • 4
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    Adding suspicious mud would be cool to diversify the biomes in which you can do archeology and its the material in which most archeological founds are done in the Netherlands.

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    One Slot

    • A slot where you can put a stack of items in the pot, this would allow you to store some treasure inside, be it treasure or coins like emeralds or gold.

    Dyed

    • Obviously it would also be very cool if they could be dyed, with a color similar to the terracotta blocks

    All of this together would give players a lot of utility in building, map-making, and survival.

  • 4
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    On thoughts for future iterations: 

    I hope we'll get at least one more unique item from archeology. I'd be surprised if after three years in limbo, that pottery would still be the only item we would get. I'm not that creative, unlike the dev's, so all I could really think of is a collectable item, like fossils.
    More pottery shards are ideal, and I really hope the devs rethink not letting us dye the pots. If we can't dye them, could we at least have different size pots? 

     

    On the current system: 

    > Giving old/outdated structures like Desert Wells a purpose is great, and I hope the developers continue that trend with future updates. Exploration is a key factor to what makes Minecraft constantly exciting. 
    > I actually prefer the new animation of items popping out over the old look! 
    > Pots are great, but as many people have suggested, using them to store items (so we can smash them) would be a fun idea! 

     

    Thank you guys for all that you do! I have high hopes that this will turn out to be a fun and immersive system.

  • 2
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    Copper nuggets can be added, and a copper nugget can be used to craft a brush. Now the brush will be crafted from a stick, a copper nugget and 3 string. It seems to me that a copper nugget is better than a copper ingot, because a small piece of copper is visible on the texture of the brush.

  • 3
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    Please change the name from 'Pottery Shard' to Pottery Sherd' or 'Potsherd'.  

    This is the term that Archaeologists use when referring to specifically fragments of pottery.

    Sherd - Wikipedia

  • 3
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    I think that with the advent of the brush, the web should break faster with it, and not with a sword

  • 14
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    Rework to the Suspicious Sand Loot Table

    The experience of going digging should be fun and satisfying, return with treasures, not with 1 stick and 1 gunpowder, the treasure must be something valuable, my Loot Table proposal is as follows:

    • Enchanted Golden Apple    % 0.3
    • Block of Diamond                % 0.6
    • Dune Armor Trim                % 5.0
    • [NEW] Banner Pattern       % 6.5
    • [NEW] Music Disc              % 6.5
    • Enchanted Book                 % 6.0
    • Name Tag                           % 7.3
    • Block of Emerald                % 9.8
    • Block of Iron                       % 9.0
    • Pottery Shard                     % 12.1
    • Block of Gold                      % 14.5
    • Diamond                             % 22.4
  • 2
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    I think pots should be able to hold water or plants (maybe larger decorative versions of the small pot plants?) but an amazing update for the perfect game!