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Minecraft: Lockdown Lesson Recreates Ancient Island Tomb

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

Imagine an archaeologist with a bored student 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 is the achievement 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 globe.

The models can be added to Minecraft's block-building universe. You can also explore the site to find out more about Neolithic life and art.

The burial mound dates back an estimated 5,000 years, with its known as the "passage tomb" which's entrance is perfectly aligned with the sun at dawn on the solstice of summer.

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

Like Stonehenge, this was a ritual enclosure consisting of a bank that was surrounded by an inner ditch, encased by upright stones.

Dr Edwards utilized these excavations, along with his work with researchers from University of Central Lancashire, Wales The historic environment service Cadw to carefully recreate Bryn Celli Ddu for the video game.

It was later integrated into the educational edition of Minecraft which is used around the world to deliver lessons on everything from chemistry to computer programming.

Now you can add a bit of ancient Welsh history to your collection.

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"I knew Bella had access to the education version of Minecraft at her school, near Wrexham and I also had access to it at my university.

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

"It wasn't a priority, but then it's lockdown time, it's the Easter holidays, and you're homeschooling.

"I just said to Bella"Should we take an opportunity to try this?'"

The game is renowned for being able to construct nearly anything out of graphic blocks, creating massive worlds and playgrounds.

Although it could be an entertainment, Dr Edwards took the approach to Bryn Celli Ddu seriously, and used actual data from the mapping of geographical areas to recreate the landscape for the Minecraft models.

It also includes the actual tomb as it was in the Bronze Age and other burial pits or mounds discovered in recent times.

The rock art found from Bryn Celli Ddu is also included in the game as is a model of what could have been a Neolithic home may have looked like near by.

Dr Edwards stated that the most difficult thing to construct was not the house or the burial mounds.

"It was planting the trees," he said.

Each one had to be individually "planted" and tended by Bella and her father, as part of the Minecraft world.
game servers

Dr. Edwards admitted that Bella was required to show her how to do various things because she uses it more often than I.

She later endorsed the final version and stated 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, said it was precisely children like Bella who could benefit from playing with the Minecraft model.

"We were looking for new ways of providing people with an experience in digital form of Bryn Celli Ddu," said Dr Reynolds who is normally be spending the summer months giving guided tours of the excavations to students from the region.

"This was a way to continue our relationship with these schools, and to provide them with a means to visit the site online."

Coronavirus restrictions have resulted in Cadw's sites in Wales being closed to the public, including Bryn Celli Ddu.

It also meant that, for the first time in a while, people who celebrated the solstice of summer couldn't gather at the burial mound in order to witness the sunrise phenomenon on the mound.

Dr Reynolds said sunrise view was possible with 360-degree filming.

She stated that Cadw hopes to make the videos accessible in the near future and make the site accessible to the public.

Those who have access to Minecraft at home or in school can now access the Minecraft website online - in safety.

The Bryn Celli Ddu Minecraft world is free to download the Minecraft Education version on Hwb the Welsh Government's resource for teachers, and also from the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage.

For those who want a more serious experience, Dr Andrews and his coworkers have created an augmented-reality app for Apple devices that can guide visitors around the real site when it reopens.

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