Minecraft Bedrock Archaeology Guide

The brush is the key tool in Minecraft’s archaeology system, used to carefully uncover artifacts hidden in suspicious sand and gravel. Without it, these fragile items can’t be retrieved.

Suspicious sand and suspicious gravel are new block variants that contain hidden items. These blocks have a slightly different texture compared to regular sand and gravel, often appearing with darker patches, which can help you identify them. Like regular sand and gravel, these suspicious blocks are affected by gravity, but with a crucial difference: if they fall, they will break and the hidden treasure will be lost forever. Therefore, extreme caution is advised when excavating around these blocks.

Unlike regular sand and gravel, suspicious sand and gravel cannot be quickly mined with a shovel or any tool other than the brush. If you attempt to break a suspicious block with a tool other than the brush, or even with the brush by simply breaking it, you will receive nothing, and the block will be destroyed.

To reveal the contents, you must use the brush by continuously using it on the suspicious block. On Minecraft Bedrock Edition, as you brush a suspicious block, the sand or gravel disappears completely, revealing the item inside. There are four break stages to the brushing process; if you stop brushing before revealing the item, the item will sink back into the block.

Desert Wells

Suspicious sand and suspicious gravel are new block variants that contain hidden items. These blocks have a slightly different texture compared to regular sand and gravel, often appearing with darker patches, which can help you identify them. Like regular sand and gravel, these suspicious blocks are affected by gravity, but with a crucial difference: if they fall, they will break and the hidden treasure will be lost forever. Therefore, extreme caution is advised when excavating around these blocks.

Desert Temples

Desert temples, another structure found in desert biomes, have been updated to include a secret room that now contains suspicious sand. To access this room, you will typically need to navigate the temple carefully, avoiding the pressure plate that triggers TNT. The suspicious sand in desert temples can yield some of the best loot in Minecraft.

Ocean Ruins

Ocean ruins, found underwater in ocean biomes, can also contain archaeological finds. In cold ocean ruins, you will find suspicious gravel, while in warm ocean ruins, you will find suspicious sand. Ocean ruins come in various sizes, and suspicious blocks might be more frequent in smaller ruins. Exploring ocean ruins effectively often requires night vision and water-breathing effects.

Trail Ruins

Trail Ruins

Trail Ruins

Trail Ruins

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Trail Ruins are buried structures introduced in Minecraft 1.20 and are the main site for archaeology. Found in biomes like taiga, jungle, and old growth forests, they often appear as small surface blocks hiding much larger ruins below. To find them, look for odd block patterns like terracotta or gravel.

Excavation requires a brush, shovel, and care—especially with suspicious gravel, which breaks if it falls, destroying any loot. Trail Ruins often have a central tower and hidden rooms filled with blocks like terracotta, glazed terracotta, and mud bricks.

Loot includes pottery shards (for crafting decorated pots), armor trims (like Wayfinder and Host), and the Relic music disc, found only here. Explore slowly, layer by layer. Every Trail Ruin is unique—rewarding patience with rare archaeological finds.

The sniffer is a unique mob, thematically linked to the archaeology and ancient history vibe of the 1.20 update. It’s passive, plant-loving, and adds more depth to the Minecraft ecosystem. Because of the sniffer’s exclusive link to archaeology, its egg is now a major incentive to explore warm ocean ruins—an area that previously didn’t offer much gameplay reward.

Sniffer Egg

The sniffer egg is one of the most sought-after items in Minecraft’s archaeology system, and it’s tied directly to suspicious sand found in warm ocean ruins. If you’re hunting for a sniffer, warm ocean ruins are the only place to look—this structure is the exclusive location where sniffer eggs generate, making it a high-priority target for explorers focused on ancient mobs.

To actually get a sniffer egg, you need to locate suspicious sand within a warm ocean ruin and use the brush on it. Don’t break it with other tools, or the egg will be destroyed. Once collected, the egg will eventually hatch into a snifflet, the baby form of the sniffer.

After hatching at least two sniffers, you can start breeding them using torchflower seeds. This creates a renewable loop for collecting more sniffer eggs without needing to go back to the ocean ruins—super useful once you’ve secured your initial pair.

Also, there’s a hidden advancement tied to this: “Smells Interesting”. You’ll unlock it just by getting a sniffer egg in your inventory.

Pottery Shards

Pottery shards are unique items found within suspicious sand and gravel. Each shard features a distinct piece of a larger design. By collecting four pottery shards, you can craft them into a decorated pot. In the crafting interface, the first shard you place in the bottom slot will determine the front design of the pot. You can arrange the other three shards in the remaining slots to complete the decoration.

While the brush might seem like a simple tool, it can be enchanted to improve its longevity. You can apply enchantments to a brush using an anvil. The available enchantments for the brush are Mending, Unbreaking (at all levels), and the curse of Vanishing. Mending will repair the brush’s durability by consuming experience orbs.

Unbreaking will increase the chance that the brush will not lose durability when used, effectively making it last longer. The Curse of Vanishing will cause the brush to disappear upon your death. Notably, enchantments like Efficiency, Looting, and Fortune do not have any effect on the brush or the items obtained from suspicious blocks. Haste effects will also not speed up the brushing process.