One of the major features to come with the upcoming 1.2 Update for Minecraft has officially been revealed and will allow players to dig up archeological treasures from beneath the sands of desert biomes using a whole new type of tool. This represents just a part of what fans can expect from the next major Minecraft update, with Mojang hinting that remaining features might soon be revealed on its official social media channels.

Archeology is a feature that Minecraft fans have been hoping would come to the game for years now, especially after the feature was first announced during the reveal of the Caves and Cliffs Update back in 2020. While the Caves and Cliffs Update was originally intended to introduce archeology alongside the many other features that it offered, it unfortunately, ended up being scrapped for several reasons. While the development of the Caves and Cliffs Update suffered many unforeseen complications due to the circumstances at the time, the game's developers saw enough potential in the concept of an archeology feature that they decided to work on it in a future update so that the mechanic could be fully fleshed-out and fun for players.

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Thankfully, it appears that a fully-realized archeology mechanic will make its way into Minecraft after all. A blog post on the official Minecraft website revealed that players will soon be able to dig up ancient artifacts that are buried deep in Minecraft's desert biomes using a new brush tool, giving them the opportunity to extract not only new pottery shards which can be used to craft decorative pots but an assortment of different items as well. While this will surely open new avenues for treasure-hunting enthusiasts, this feature will also introduce several new blocks, including a new type of suspicious sand block that players will need to seek out if they hope to dust off any loot. The post also confirmed that these new features will soon be available for preview in an upcoming snapshot, though the current gameplay iteration will likely see many tweaks during the lead-up to the 1.2 update's official release.

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Mojang has kept details slim with regard to upcoming features in order to avoid disappointing fans. The cancellation of already-announced features in past updates led to some backlash from the community, and the developers have since made clear that they intend to avoid revealing new gameplay additions while they're still just concepts.

The depth of Minecraft's archeology mechanics remains to be seen, but the reveal will no doubt excite many fans who have been hoping to see the feature come to fruition. Minecraft's mysterious 1.2 Update is yet to have an official name, and fans can expect more of the update's content to be revealed in the future.

Minecraft is available on PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and most legacy platforms.

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Source: Mojang