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Minecraft Lockdown Lesson Recreates Ancient Island Tomb

Minecraft: Lockdown lesson recreates ancient island tomb By George Herd BBC News



Consider an archaeologist, bored girl who is in coronavirus lockdown, and an 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 work of Dr. Ben Edwards, from Wrexham and his daughter Bella 11.



Their Bryn Celli models Ddu on Anglesey are now being shared with schools around the globe.



The models can be loaded into the block-building world of Minecraft and explored to find out more about both the site, Neolithic life and art.



The burial mound dates back five thousand years, and has a so-called "passage tomb" its entrance perfectly aligned with the sun's rising on the solstice of summer.



Recent excavations at this site, including some by the Manchester Metropolitan University archaeologist Dr Edwards himself, revealed that the burial chamber was built as an "henge".



It was similar to Stonehenge and consisted of a bank that was surrounded by an internal ditch, enclosed in a circle with upright stones.



Dr Edwards has used those excavations, along with work with researchers from the University of Central Lancashire and Wales the historic environment service Cadw to meticulously recreate Bryn Celli Ddu in the video game.



It was then incorporated in the educational version of Minecraft, which is used all over the world to deliver lessons in anything from chemistry to computer programming.



Now you can add an ancient Welsh history.



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 so many hill forts?



BBC Radio 3: New Generation Thinkers' Seren Griffiths on Bryn Celli Ddu



"I was aware that Bella had the version for education of Minecraft at her school near Wrexham and I used it at my university.



"So it was always at the back of my mind for a while, to try something with Minecraft," said Dr Edwards who has worked on other more mature computer models of Bryn Celli Ddu in the past.



"It wasn't a huge priority, but then you're locked down and it's Easter time and you're in home schooling.



"I just said to Bella, 'Shall you have an attempt at this?'"



The game is famous for players being able to construct nearly everything out of blocks of graphics, creating huge worlds and playgrounds.



Although it may seem like an unending game, Dr. Edwards was serious about his approach to Bryn Celli Ddu and used actual geographical mapping data to create the Minecraft landscapes.



It also includes the actual tomb as it was in the Bronze Age and other burial mounds or pits discovered in recent times.
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The game also features rock art by Bryn Celli Ddu, as well as a model of a Neolithic home.



According to Dr Edwards Dr Edwards, the most difficult thing to build was not the burial mounds, but the house.



He said, "It was planting trees."



Each one had to be "planted" by Bella and her dad as part of the Minecraft world.



"Bella had to teach me how to do a lot of things, as she is more adept than I do," Dr Edwards confessed.



She later ratified the final version and stated 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 said that it was precisely children like Bella who would benefit the most from the Minecraft model.



Dr Reynolds stated, "We were looking at ways to offer people a digital Experience of Bryn Celli Ddu," and he would normally be out in the summer providing guided tours of the excavations to the local schools.



"This was an opportunity to keep our relationship with these schools, and to provide them with a means to "visit" the site electronically."



Coronavirus restrictions have led to Cadw's facilities in Wales being closed to the public including Bryn Celli Ddu.



It also meant that, for the first year in years, people who celebrate the summer solstice weren't able to meet at the burial mound to observe the sunrise phenomenon on the mound.



Dr. Reynolds stated that access to the sunrise was possible using 360-degree filming.



She said that Cadw hopes to make the footage accessible in the near future and open the site again to the public.



In the meantime, anyone with internet access at home or in school can now visit Minecraft online - safely.



The Bryn Celli Ddu Minecraft world is free to download the Minecraft Education version from Hwb the Welsh Government's teaching resource website as well as from the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage.



If you're looking for a more serious experience Dr. Andrews together with his colleagues have developed an augmented reality application for Apple devices that can help guide users around the actual site once it reopens.



New dig at the site of a prehistoric burial



15 June 2019



New discovery made at ancient tomb



23 June 2017



Around the BBC



BBC Radio 3: The New Generation Thinkers



Bryn Celli Ddu


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