Minecraft: Lockdown Lesson Recreates Ancient Island Tomb
Minecraft: Lockdown lesson recreates an ancient island tomb Written by George Herd BBC News
Imagine an archaeologist and a bored girl locked down by coronavirus. They share a common desire to explore ancient tombs.
The result? The video game Minecraft has recreated one of Wales the most important Bronze Age sites.
It's Dr. Ben Edwards from Wrexham and his daughter Bella who have made it happen.
Their models of Bryncelli Ddu on Anglesey are now being shared with classrooms across the globe.
The models can be loaded into Minecraft's block-building world. You can also explore the site to find out more about Neolithic life and art.
The burial mound dates back about five thousand years. Its known as the "passage Tomb" is a perfect alignment with the sun's rise on the summer solstice.
Recent excavations at the site, including those done by Dr Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University archaeologist, have revealed that the burial chamber was constructed as a "henge".
Like Stonehenge, this was a sacred enclosure made up of the bank surrounding an inner ditch, encased by a circle of upright stones.
Dr Edwards has made use of the digs, in conjunction with researchers from the University of Central Lancashire and Wales the historical environment service Cadw, to painstakingly recreate Bryn Celli Ddu in the video game.
It was later integrated into Minecraft's educational edition that is used all over the world to teach lessons in chemistry and computer programming.
You can now add the ancient Welsh history to that list.
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"I was aware that Bella had access to the education version of Minecraft at school here, close to Wrexham and I also had access to it at my university.
Dr Edwards who worked on different computer models of Bryn Celli Ddu in the past and said that "So it was always in my mind for a while..."
"It wasn't a priority, but then it's lockdown time, it's the Easter holiday, so you are homeschooling.
"I just said to Bella"Should we have a crack at this?'"
The game is well-known for its ability to design virtually any kind of world or playground of graphic blocks.
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Though it may be a game, Dr Edwards used the technique of Bryn Celli Ddu seriously and utilized actual maps of the world to recreate the landscape for Minecraft models.
It includes the actual tomb as it was in the Bronze Age and other burial pits or mounds that were discovered in recent years.
The game also features rock art from Bryn Celli Ddu, as also a model of an Neolithic home.
According to Dr. Edwards, the hardest thing to construct was not the burial mounds, but the house.
He said, "It was planting trees."
Each one of them had to be "planted" by Bella and her dad to be part of the Minecraft world.
"Bella was required to demonstrate to me how to do a number of things, because she uses it more than me," Dr Edwards confessed.
She ultimately approved the final version, and said that it was "very real".
Her father told her, "And she knows because she used to go to the excavations also."
Dr Ffion Reynolds, who is from Cadw Dr Ffion Reynolds, from Cadw exactly children such as Bella who would benefit from playing with the Minecraft model.
Dr Reynolds said, "We were looking at innovative ways to offer people an experience in digital form of Bryn Celli Ddu." He would usually be in the summer giving guided tours through the excavations to local schools.
"This was a way to continue our relationship with these schools, and also provide them with a way to "visit" the site electronically."
Coronavirus restrictions mean that Cadw's facilities across Wales have been closed to the public, including Bryn Celli Ddu.
It also meant that for the first time in a long time, those who celebrate the summer solstice weren't able to be at the burial site in order to witness the sunrise spectacle there.
"However, it did allow us to access an exclusive camera crew, and we have been able capture the sunrise in the area using 360-degree filming," Dr. Reynolds added.
She said Cadw was hoping to make the footage available in the very near future, as well as opening the site again to visitors.
Meanwhile, those with access to Minecraft at home or in school can now access the site digitally - in peace.
The Bryn Celli Ddu Minecraft world is free to download for the Minecraft Education version from Hwb the Welsh Government's resource for teachers, and also from the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage.
For those who want an experience that is more serious, Dr Andrews and his team have developed an app for augmented reality available for Apple devices that can guide users around the actual site once it is reopened.
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