Minecraft Lockdown: Lockdown lesson recreates the an ancient island tomb Written by George Herd BBC News
Take an archaeologist, a bored girl in school who is suffering from coronavirus lockdown, and a shared desire to explore ancient tombs.
The result? The result? Wales the most important Bronze Age sites recreated – in the video game Minecraft.
It is the work of Dr Ben Edwards, from Wrexham and his daughter Bella 11.
They are sharing their models of Anglesey’s Bryncelli Ddu with schools across the world.
The models can be loaded into the block-building world of Minecraft and explored to find out more about both the website and Neolithic life and art.
The burial mound dates back an estimated five thousand years, and has a”passage tomb,” or “passage tomb” whose entrance aligns perfectly with the sun’s rising on the summer solstice.
Recent excavations at the site, as well as some carried out by Dr. Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University archaeologist, have revealed that the burial chamber was constructed as”henge” “henge”.
Like Stonehenge, this was a ritual enclosure consisting of the bank surrounding an inner ditch, enclosed by a circle of upright stones.
Dr Edwards has used those digs, alongside work with researchers from the University of Central Lancashire and Wales’ historical environment service Cadw to painstakingly recreate Bryn Celli Ddu in the video game.
It was later incorporated into the educational version of Minecraft, which is used all over the world to deliver lessons in everything from chemistry to computer coding.
You can now add a bit of Welsh history to that list.
From cromlechs to Cairns – Wales’ ancient burial sites
History of the world The Bryn Celli Ddu Stone
What was the reason that the prehistoric people built many hill forts?
BBC Radio 3: New Generation Thinkers’ Seren Griffiths on Bryn Celli Ddu
“I was aware that Bella had access to the educational version of Minecraft at her school in the area near Wrexham and I had access to it at my university.
Dr. Edwards who worked on different computer models of Bryn Celli Ddu in past years, said that “So it was always on my thoughts for a while…”
“It was never a massive priority, but now you’re locked down because it’s the Easter holiday, and you are in home schooling.
“I just told Bella”Should we have a go at this?’”
The game is famous for its ability to build virtually any kind of playground or world out of graphic blocks.
Although it may seem like a game, Dr Edwards was serious about his approach to Bryncelli Ddu and used actual geographic mapping data to create the Minecraft landscapes.
It also includes the actual tomb as it appeared in the Bronze Age and other burial mounds or pits discovered in recent years.
The game also features rock art from Bryn Celli Ddu, as well as a model of the Neolithic home.
Dr Edwards declared that the most difficult thing to construct was not the house , but the burial mounds.
He claimed, “It was planting trees.”
Each one was individually “planted” and grown by Bella and her father to become part of the Minecraft world.
“Bella was required to teach me how to do a number of things, as she was more reliant on it than me,” Dr Edwards confessed.
In the end, she approved of the final version and said it was “very real”.
Her father said, “And she knows because she used to go down to the mines as well.”
Dr Ffion Reynolds from Cadw said that it was precisely children like Bella who would be the most benefit from the Minecraft model.
Dr. Reynolds said, “We were looking at innovative ways to offer people a digital Experience of Bryn Celli Ddu.” He would normally be in the summer giving guided tours of the excavations to the local schools.
“This was a way to keep our relationship with those schools, and offering them a way of ‘visiting’ the website online.”
flash ants
Coronavirus restrictions mean Cadw’s sites across Wales are closed to the public, including Bryn Celli Ddu.
It also meant that, for the first year in a while, people who celebrate the solstice couldn’t be at the burial site in order to observe the sunrise phenomenon on the mound.
“However, it did allow us to access an exclusive camera crew, and we have been able to capture the sunrise there with 360-degree videography,” Dr Reynolds added.
She said that Cadw was hoping to make the video accessible in the near future, and make the site accessible to the public.
Those who have access to Minecraft at home or at school can now visit the site digitally – in complete safety.
The Bryn Celli Du Minecraft world is available for download free from Hwb, the Welsh Government’s resource for teachers. Also available from the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage.
If you’re looking for an experience that is more serious Dr. Andrews and his team are behind an app for augmented reality available for Apple devices that can help users navigate the site – once it reopens.
New dig at the prehistoric burial site
15 June 2019
A new find at an ancient tomb
23 June 2017
Around the BBC
BBC Radio 3: New Generation Thinkers
Bryn Celli Ddu
The Life of Castro 090 
Leave a comment