Minecraft: Lockdown Lesson Recreates Ancient Island Tomb
Minecraft Lockdown lesson recreates an ancient island tombs by George Herd BBC News
Take an archaeologist, a bored schoolgirl living through coronavirus lockdown, and a common desire to explore 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 classrooms across the globe.
The models can be loaded into the block-building universe of Minecraft, and explored to learn more about both the site, Neolithic life and art.
The burial mound dates back to around 5 000 years ago. Its called 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 built as"henge" "henge".
Similar to Stonehenge This was a sacred enclosure made up of a bank that was surrounded by an inner ditch, which was enclosed by a circle of upright stones.
Dr Edwards utilized these digs with the work of researchers from University of Central Lancashire, Wales the historic environment service Cadw to meticulously recreate Bryn Celli Ddu for the video game.
It was then integrated into the educational version of Minecraft, which is used all over the globe to provide lessons in anything from chemistry to computer coding.
Now you can add an ancient Welsh history.
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"I knew that Bella had the education version of Minecraft at her school near Wrexham and I had it at my university.
"So it was always in the back of my head for a while to do something with Minecraft," said Dr Edwards, who has worked on other more sophisticated computer models of Bryn Celli Ddu in the past.
"It was not a priority, but now it's lockdown, and it's the Easter holiday, so you're homeschooling.
"I just said to Bella"Should we take a crack at this?'"
The game is well-known for its ability to design virtually any kind of world or playground of graphic blocks.
While it might be an entertainment, Dr Edwards took the method of Bryn Celli Ddu seriously, and employed actual maps of the world to recreate the landscape of Minecraft models.
It includes the actual tomb as it was 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 an Neolithic home.
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 of them had to be "planted" by Bella and her dad to be part of the Minecraft world.
Dr. Edwards admitted that Bella had to show her how to do various things because she uses it more often than I do.
In the end, she approved of the final version and said it was "very real".
"And she is aware, as she used to come down to the diggings as well," her father added.
Dr Ffion Reynolds from Cadw said that it was children like Bella who would benefit the most from the Minecraft model.
Dr. Reynolds said, "We were looking at ways to provide people with a digital Experience of Bryncelli Ddu" and he'd typically be in the summer months conducting guided tours of the excavations to local schools.
"This was a way to keep our relationship with these schools, while also providing them with the option of visiting the website digitally."
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 a long time, those who celebrate the solstice couldn't be at the burial site to watch the sunrise phenomenon on the mound.
"However, it did allow us access to an extra camera crew and we've been able capture the sunrise in the area using 360-degree filming." Dr Reynolds said.
She said Cadw hopes to make the footage available in the very near future, and also opening the site again to visitors.
In the meantime anyone with an internet connection at home or at school can now play Minecraft digitally - in safety.
The Bryn Celli Du Minecraft world is available for free download on Hwb the Welsh Government's website for teaching resources. GAMES Also available from the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage.
If you're looking for a more serious experience, Dr Andrews along with his colleagues have developed an augmented reality app for Apple devices that can guide users around the actual site when it reopens.
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