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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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  • 2
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    Os potes do trailer são melhores

  • 3
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    I'm honestly disappointed by the pots as they are right now. I hope they're a placeholder feature to showcase archeology, not the final version. Apart from the nicer textures (credit where it's due), everything about them is a downgrade from what we saw in the first Archeology video back in the original Caves&Cliffs reveal. The model looks worse, kinda like a lego brick, the old version with the broad rim looked much better. Unfired pots and the firing step are gone, instead they're crafted as nonsensically as flower pots, meaning that you can't have a work-in-progress view of a pot being restored, like we saw in the original trailer.

    Unrelated to that trailer, the number one worst aspect of the current version of pots is that they have no use! Pottery absolutely MUST be made useful! It doesn't exist in the real world just because it looks nice, but because it's one of the most versatile technologies humanity ever invented! A crucial component to the development of civilization itself! And in Minecraft it's relegated to decoration? That's unacceptable. 

    I'm happy with most of the other 1.20 features added thus far, but pots as they are now look like yet another instance of Mojang overpromising and underdelivering. Don't just give us the most stripped down version of pottery you can get away with, just for the sake of technically keeping a promise. The goal should be to make every player want to get pots, even the technical ones who don't care about decoration.

  • 6
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    Since its announcement, archeology gets worse and worse.

    1. Digging sites all around the world, or at least in many different places would make for cool adventures and a world full of things to explore e gather. 
    2. The crafting recipe for the pots make sense, but... making sense is not enought. Is sooooo simple that becomes boring. There's really nothing special there. No new or cool experience.
    3. Only be able to find suspicious sand in that secret room is just... underwhelming. Hard to find, not pleasant, not enough sand. 
    4. Desert wells being a archealogy spot is good! But... not enough sand, and VERY specific sand location. 
    5. Overall, the mechanic has became limited, and ultimately meaningless. Not an addition to the game, but rather pollution, since it come and go nowhere.

    But there are good things:

    1. The resolution to the animation of the suspicious sand blocks are an awesome design solution.
    2. Different loot for different places are nice!
    3. Make desert wells relevant is a good choice.

    An adventure dream, has become a piece of disposable conceptual noise.
    1/10 - too limited, too meaningless.

  • 6
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    As an archaeologist, I think this is such a valuable part of the "self-expression, representation and storytelling" update! Archaeology allows us to identify cultural heritage, by researching past populations. Our new Minecraft libraries will be filled with personal character stories, enriched by their connection to a past that we investigated archaeologically.

    The idea of adding new 'suspicious' blocks to other biomes would let players use archaeology to investigate a wider diversity of past cultures which their heritage may connect to.

    Examples of 'suspicious' blocks in other biomes, with potential archaeological deposits:

    • suspicious silts: silt deposits near waterways might have buried hearths, stone tools, or the remains of an ancient camp;
    • suspicious stone: stone blocks that have been cut/dressed might have a chance of retaining archaeological material in recesses or cracks (like the suspicious stone in old growth taiga biomes)
    • suspicious soil: deep soil deposits in caves or rock shelters may contain stone tools or ochre fragments used to paint rock walls

    Keep up the fantastic work!

  • 1
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    👇👇👇👇👇👇👇
    Mojang let's talk about mending.

    We all know that having mending in our gear is awesome but let's go ahead and talk about how this ruines the game experience, players will get mending so early that it will ruined the experience of mining even in late game, im not saying that you should remove the mending entirely just remove it so were players cant get it from trading with villagers and better make it rare so can only be found in structures like for examples the end cities, ancient cities, mansions, strongholds, etc..

    This will longer the process of obtaining the best gear in the game and making it more rewarding, considering how powerful mending is, while also making you explore the world.

    This would also keep the need of mining for diamonds and netherite stay longer in the game.

  • 2
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    I think it should be possible to put precious ingots like gold or diamonds inside clay pots. So when we break them, there can be ingots that pop out of them, just like in the movies. There is no need for any gui for the pots, we just need to put them inside and when you break them, the contents will spill out. I think it would be cool.

  • 1
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    Archeology is so exciting! A very enjoyable area that can definitely be added upon in the future. Maybe some differing pot models and colors/textures would be neat, alongside more differing artifacts in the future?

    You could even use the current Fossil formations in the game for some neat ideas! Differing shards that appear based on the silhouettes for example, which would really tie everything in nicely.

  • 1
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    Archeology has lots of potential to help reinforce the self-expression, exploration and player driven narratives that you guys want to achieve. However, I do think that a feature with such a large potential should have a diverse and robust rollout on its first introduction. 

    Excavation Sites: 

    • Expanded to other structures and biomes to incentivize exploration. 
    • Unique themed loot or items based on the structures they are found in. 
    • Expand sites into other realms like the Nether or End, with thematically appropriate loot. 

    Pottery: 

    • More shard designs that vary based on where you find them. 
    • Variations in pot size and shape to provide more visual diversity and functionality to pots. 
    • Be able to dye or decorate pots, possibly in a way similar to armor trims. 
    • Allow pots to hold one full stack of an item, be able to store one bucket of a liquid (water, milk, honey, etc), or hold flowers. 

    Statues: 

    • Based on various mobs and could be made of different stone-like materials (andesite, granite, etc) 
    • Crafted into various poses, depending on the mob the statue is based on. 
    • Possibly be able to slightly change the pose of the statue, which would emit a redstone signal, useful for cool hidden passages for builds. 

    Ancient Murals/Paintings: 

    • Could be customizable like pottery shards with different images that could be pieced together to tell a story. 
    • Or could simply be themed ancient paintings unique to the various structures with excavation sites. 
  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Please add this because it will help us get more loot faster like emeralds 

  • 1
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     I would like, that archaelogy not be something exclusive for common deserts. It would be great if there was also a suspicious dirt for the jungle temples and a suspicious red sand for the badlands, to which a new structure could be added. Any suspicius block could be a diferent loot set.

  • 1
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    I like the idea of being able to paint the pottery shards before applying them to the pot, and after creating a pot with the painted shard we would be able to paint the pot itself thus making a pot painted a certain color while the symbols on it are painted other colors.
    For example: after finding an Arms Up pottery shard and a Skull pottery shard I decided to dye the Arms Up PS blue and the Skull PS black and then combining them into a decorative pot resulting in a decorative pot with a blue Arms Up and a black Skull drawings on it, then I decided to dye the rest of the pot grey by simply combining the existing pot with grey dye resulting in a grey pot with blue Arm Up and black Skull drawings on it.

  • 1
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    Being able to dye the pots to different colours would be really cool and would add more usability to them in different build styles. Also the ability to put maybe a few items inside of it similar to the way you use a campfire and when you break it or click it again you can get the items back or you could fill the pot with sand and it could output different signal strengths with a comparator.

  • 1
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    Archeology has been at the top of my list of most wanted features, but i can't help but feel this new snapshot has significantly downgraded the gameplay aspect of it (for now), talking about pots, I believe they were the main "issue", they look extremely nice, but lack the depth and gameplay shown at Minecraft LIVE, i would like to see the gameplay shown to come back, to craft first a clay pot, and then put the shards in and then over fire to bake it, it gave depth and meaning not only to shards but to pots and archeology, and now, boiled down to a crafting recipe it loses all it's potential and purpose, it doesn't feel gratifying to make a pot anymore, it feels redundant, bring back the old gameplay, make it so you can right click it or punch it with your hands to pick it up without breaking it so you can transport it from place to place etc. Also I would absolutely recommend suspicious dirt to be added, don't make this feature exclusive to deserts, make new excavation site structures which have lots of suspicious sand/dirt to brush, make it so they don't only spawn near existing structures, they should be everywhere, keep the animation for brushing blocks we have now, so that when you brush a block all the way it doesn't disappear like in the Minecraft live showcase, that would make archy sites and suspicious blocks being everywhere possible, because it wouldn't leave holes in the world, I want to see this concept live to it's fullest potential.

  • 0
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    I LOVE THE SUS SAND. But maybe instead of it just dropping pottery shards, it can also drop bones or iron. Because when I played the snapshot, I wasn't able to get a shard until the 20th time. So maybe a couple more items would ease the work players would have to do to get something from this update.

  • 2
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    Please include water-log functionality for the pots

  • 1
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    We need suspicious sand to generate AROUND desert temples as well (and if it already does, it should be more common). I really agree with this not generating around desert villages (there is already a reward because of the camel - and villages should not be considered ancient). Please do not change that. Overall, this is a good feature.

  • 2
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    you NEED to be able to place large flowers like azaleas, large & small dripleafs, sweet berries etc inside the pots

  • 3
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    This is your chance for another parity feature: add Petrified Oak Slabs to the Archaeology loot table.

  • 1
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    seriously interesting that the archeology system remained similar to what was presented earlier (heating the pot and also in the form of the animation of digging the block of suspicious sand)

  • 1
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    Hey Mojang I want you to hear my idea of adding ancient structures in the desert to resemble a ancient villager civilization that used to live a long time ago. You could add Sniffer structure and pottery shard too, to make it look like the villagers were worshipping the Sniffer. You could also add spearheads or ancient Carthaginian warship that you can craft with a large crafting table. Maybe add coin forms of the valuable ores and add a figure on it. 

  • 1
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    I prefer the old model of the pots and it's better if we have more pottery shards and the pot itself can be dyed.

  • 0
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    Hey Mojang can you add pyramids to archeology that have a tomb and when you open the tomb there's a pharaoh that comes out of it with a diamond sword and if you take the sword from him you fall into a pit of husks as a punishment from the gods.

  • 1
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    I'm excited for archeology, but I'm also concerned that it currently lacks depth and replayability.

    I see no reason to limit archeology to the desert when Minecraft has such a vast interesting world. With the addition of suspicious gravel, dig sites could be found in ocean ruins, jungle temples, strongholds, ancient cities, dungeons, abandoned villages, and even bastion remnants.

    There should be more loot to make new excavation sites exciting. Some additional items include banner patterns, smithing templates, random firework stars, and maybe some potions and enchanted books.

    As is, crafting pots from rigid bricks and shards lacks immersion. I prefer the system shown off in 2020 of imbedding fragments into clay pots and cooking them. It's more fun to work it out in the world than to drag and drop in a crafting UI. To make pots more personal, there needs to be more shard designs and dye options. They could also hold flowers (including the double tall ones) and hide away a few items inside. Pots should shatter when shot by a trident or arrow.

  • 1
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    For the clay pots to be able to carry stuff inside I think giving them the shulker mechanic but for liquids exclusively makes the most sense, being able to save at least 3 buckets of any liquid is a sound idea, not too broken, but makes the thing something worth crafting for other purposes than just decoration.

    It helps with avoiding the need to craft a stack of buckets, wasting both iron and inventory space.

    One thing I imagine makes sense it SHOULDN'T do is using buckets with axolotls, because it would be like mistreating those cute things by trapping them in such a closed space. (Very important point I just had to make, because I love these precious babies!)

    In any case I just hope this new block is not just a waste of space in a technical sense, because sure they look good, that is a given, Mojang's team made a very good job designing them and very brave for introducing such a piece in Minecraft.

  • 0
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    The Archeology looks amazing, but it is hard to find the suspicious sand so I think you guys should add different types of blocks to find the artifacts in. So I thing you should add things like suspicious dirt or gravel with more places to find them. I also think you should more locations where you can find this stuff with maybe also find different artifacts in each different location. like you add suspicious dirt or mud in a mangrove swamp with a little dig sight. you can find different shards there with different things like sticks, copper or water bottles. Other than that I think it is great so far.

  • 0
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    In the ancient city concept their were deep dark pots with different shapes and sizes

    and with the update having archeology and story telling items i feel as if it would be the perfect time to add them into the game to not have a variety of pots but to also have a new opportunity to have a new way of sneaking around the deep dark 

  • 1
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    Love archaeology. Mojang should allow players to drop one stack of items in a pot with a satisfying "thunk" sound. Then, perhaps with a pot variant (cracked pot?), you can get the item back out by slashing, breaking, shooting with an arrow, etc, which would cause the pot to shatter very satisfyingly. (Perhaps you could hit the pot and it would sound full or hollow depending on whether there were an item inside?) Would be a really pleasing thing to find in abandoned locations with some basic loot, it would really awaken the inner gamer instinct to smash pottery. It would also be a more immediately satisfying way to place loot around an area for map builders, rather than requiring the player to open a GUI to take a single item out of a chest. Imagine shooting a pot with an arrow to retrieve an item from it. Very fun.

  • 3
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    I think we should be able to craft some basic shards with simple pot patterns like zig zags or dots but the cool ones are the  ancient ones we have to find. Very simple and basic pottery segments then really cool pottery shards. Also we should be able to use them as flower pots but since they're larger maybe we could put 2 tall flowers in the or 2 or 3 normal flowers that make a bouquet.

  • 2
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    It would be really nice to have different colors of pots, like colors of terracotta. These colored pots maybe could then be glazed to make more vibrant colors, perhaps with a different trim.

  • 5
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    I think we should reintroduce the mechanics presented in 2020 where the rubbed block was destroyed layer by layer and not all at once as in this version.