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Minecraft: Lockdown Lesson Recreates Ancient Island Tomb
Minecraft Lockdown lesson recreates an ancient island tombs by George Herd BBC News
Imagine an archaeologist and a bored girl locked down by coronavirus. They share a common fascination with exploring tombs from the past.
The result? The video game Minecraft has recreated one of Wales' most important Bronze Age sites.
It is the result of Dr. Ben Edwards, from Wrexham and his daughter Bella, 11.
They are sharing their models of Anglesey's Bryn Celli Ddu with schools across the globe.
The models can be loaded into the block-building universe of Minecraft, and explored to find out more about both the siteand Neolithic life and art.
The burial mound dates back around 5,000 years. Its known as the "passage Tomb" is in perfect alignment with the sun's rise on summer solstice.
Recent excavations at the site, including those done by Dr Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University archaeologist, revealed that the burial chamber was designed as a "henge".
This was similar to Stonehenge and consisted of a bank around an internal ditch, enclosed in a circular enclosure with upright stones.
Dr Edwards has utilized the digs, alongside work 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 incorporated into the educational edition of Minecraft which is used across the world to deliver lessons on everything from chemistry to computer coding.
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"I knew Bella had the educational version of Minecraft at school near Wrexham and I used it at my university.
Dr. Edwards, who worked on various computer models of Bryn Celli Ddu, said that "So it was always in my head for some time..."
"It was never a massive priority, but now you are in lockdown, it's the Easter holidays and you're at home schooling.
"I just said to Bella, 'Shall you have an attempt at this?'"
The game is famous for being able to construct almost everything out of graphic blocks, resulting in massive worlds and playgrounds.
Although it could be an actual game, Dr. Edwards took the approach to Bryn Celli Ddu seriously and utilized actual geographical mapping data to recreate the landscape of Minecraft models.
It also includes the actual tomb as it was in the Bronze Age and other burial pits or mounds that were discovered in recent years.
Rock art recovered from Bryn Celli Ddu is also depicted in the game along with an illustration of what a Neolithic home may have looked like nearby.
Dr. WZJXZZ Edwards declared that the most difficult thing to build was not the house or the burial mounds.
"It was planting the trees," he said.
Each of them had to be "planted" by Bella and her dad in order to be part of the Minecraft world.
Dr Edwards admitted that Bella was required to show her how to do a variety of things since she uses it more frequently than I.
She ultimately approved the final version, and said that it was "very real".
"And she knows, because she used to go down to the diggings as well," her father added.
Dr Ffion Reynolds, from Cadw Dr Ffion Reynolds, from Cadw exactly children such as Bella who could benefit from playing with the Minecraft model.
"We were looking for innovative ways of providing people with an online experience of Bryn Celli Ddu," Dr. Reynolds who will typically be spending the summer months giving guided tours of the excavations to students from the area.
"This was a way to maintain our relationship with those schools, and offering them a way of 'visiting' the site online."
Coronavirus restrictions have led to Cadw's sites in Wales being closed to the public, including Bryn Celli Ddu.
It also meant that for the first time in years, people who celebrate the solstice weren't able to meet at the burial mound in order to witness the dawn phenomenon there.
"However, it did allow us get access with a special camera crew, and we've been able to capture the sunrise there with 360-degree filming," Dr. Reynolds added.
She stated that Cadw hoped to make the videos accessible in the near future, and open the site again to the public.
Those who have access to Minecraft at home or at school can now visit the site online in safety.
The Bryn Celli Ddu Minecraft world is free to download the Minecraft Education version from Hwb the Welsh Government's resource for teachers as well as from the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage.
For those who want an experience that is more substantial, Dr Andrews and his team are behind an app for augmented reality available for Apple devices, which will guide visitors around the real site once it is reopened.
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