Minecraft Will Let You Uncover Lost Relics With Its Archeology Feature Next Week

Mojang has revealed today that the Minecraft archaeology feature set first announced in 2020 will be coming to the game in snapshot form.

The archeology system was shown off at the first Minecraft Live back in October 2020, and promised to add excavation sites that you'd be able to find across the in-game world. Alongside these sites is the addition of a new tool that you can craft, a brush, which can "help you uncover the mysteries of all these dig sites." You'll be able to check out this new feature in Minecraft Java and Minecraft Bedrock preview next week, February 15, and it will be added in the full 1.20 update too.

Using the brush, you can clear away some of the rubblet at these archeological sites, which sometimes might harbor tools, bones, sniffer eggs, and pottery shards. These shards feature partial patterns, and when you put four together, a pot can be made that apparently tells some kind of unique story. You do need to be careful when excavating these old artifacts, as they can break. This feature also adds in a new type of sand--suspicious sand--found near desert temples.

Last year's Minecraft Live also showed off the various additions that will be coming as part of 1.20, including camels being added as a new mount, bamboo planks that can be used to make a new kind of block, as well as a new bamboo raft. There isn't currently a release date set for the unnamed update, but it is expected to release some time in 2023.