One of the largest contributing factors to Minecraft's long and consistent level of popularity is the frequent content updates that the title receives. The game inherently has a great amount of replayability, but these updates provide brand-new content and game mechanics for even the most seasoned players of the longstanding release to enjoy. Archeology is just one part of that.
A greatly anticipated upcoming update is set to launch this year for Minecraft, currently only known as the 1.20 update. Lately Mojang has been releasing more and more information regarding what content this update will provide, and one of the most exciting reveals is the recent confirmation of a long-awaited archeology game mechanic, now locked in for the 1.20 update. While this new feature is exciting, it is worth noting it was originally announced in 2020, although with some different features seemingly in mind.
Minecraft's 1.20 Update
Minecraft's 1.20 update is set to release in 2023, with the current confirmed content for the update pointing towards an overall theme of decor-based new implementations. For example, it is confirmed that 1.20 will introduce things like hanging signs, bamboo building blocks, and chiseled bookshelves that can store enchanted books.
As well as this, the 1.20 update is confirmed to bring more practical changes such as armor trimming, with new desert-based biomes also set to be implemented to the game. Minecraft will also receive at least two new mobs with the 1.20 update, being a new camel mob and the sniffer mob, which was the winner of 2022's Minecraft Mob Vote event. Discourse surrounding Minecraft's 1.20 update has recently skyrocketed thanks to a spate of associated announcements from Mojang, in which the company is teasing even more content that the update will include.
Minecraft 1.20 Update: Archeology
An archeology feature for Minecraft has been a long-awaited aspect of the title's offered gameplay experience, with the feature originally being teased over two years ago within prior content updates. In-keeping with the focus on desert biomes within 1.20, the archeology feature is reportedly used primarily around desert temples, which have long been a staple structure of desert biomes.
While desert temples have historically offered attractive loot for players to find amid booby-trapped secret passages, the structure will now have an even greater level of practicality thanks to 1.20's archeology feature. Temples that are eligible for archeological work will reportedly be marked by suspicious sand blocks, indicating that a player can dig around the area to find special items. Anything found by the player will then have to be cleaned by a new brush tool that will be introduced specifically for the archeology feature.
Potential archeological finds will likely be numerous in what items players will receive, but the only currently confirmed potential archeological finds are pottery shards. It has additionally been confirmed that combining four of these pottery shards will allow the player to craft a large decorative pot, which is seemingly one of the core mechanics of Minecraft's upcoming archeology feature. These pots appear to have a wide variety of patterns that each side of the pot can possess, meaning that different shards can be used to craft unique pots which will then likely have a variety of display options and functions.
Differences Between Minecraft's 1.20 Archeology and the Original Plans
An archeology system for Minecraft was first outlined within the Minecraft Live presentation event for 2020, hence the high levels of anticipation from many fans regarding the feature. While the core elements of Minecraft's archeology system appear to be the same between the original plans and the recently announced system, there are some elements that are clearly different in the newer iteration that is set to soon come to the title.
One of the most overt differences between the two announced versions of Minecraft's archeology system is the fact that the newer version has a sustained focus on desert biomes and structures, while the original plans had a seemingly more diverse approach. Originally, archeology sites would take the form of random unique structures that could be generated across a huge variety of Minecraft biomes, but the recent system constricts the feature to being used around the already existing desert temple structures. Given the many other changes and implementations that desert biomes are set to receive in 1.20, it is clear as to why Mojang has tweaked archeology to be primarily used within these areas.
The original outlines for Minecraft's archeology were also more detailed, with it being originally revealed that archeological finds could be accidentally destroyed if a player uncovered a hidden item too hastily, as well as the fact that additional items like blocks of diamonds could be uncovered via the archeology system, as opposed to just pottery shards. While it remains to be seen whether these aspects will be maintained with the more vague current archeology system, it seems evident that the system has changed in its scale and utility quite significantly since its original announcement.
It is clear to see why the 1.20 update for Minecraft is so anticipated, with the breadth and variety of the update's involved content already providing huge amounts of new in-game experiences for fans to soon enjoy. Of all this content, the addition of the long-awaited archeology mechanic to the game is surely going to be a fan-favorite, adding a new lease of life to older structures while maintaining the most important features from the original archeology system that was announced in 2020.
Minecraft is available on PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and most legacy platforms.
