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Minecraft: Lockdown Lesson Recreates Ancient Island Tomb Minecraft: Lockdown lesson recreates ancient island tomb By George Herd BBC News Imagine an archaeologist, a bored girl in lockdown from coronavirus, and a shared interest exploring ancient tombs. addict gaming The result? It's possible to recreate one of the most important Bronze Age sites in Wales - in Minecraft. It is Dr Ben Edwards from Wrexham and his daughter Bella who have achieved it. Their models of Bryn Celli Ddu from Anglesey can now be 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 is estimated to be 5,000 years old, and its so-called passage tomb, whose entrance coincides perfectly with the sun rising on the summer solstice, is also a testament to this fact. Recent excavations of the site, including some conducted by Dr Edwards from Manchester Metropolitan University, have revealed that the burial room was originally constructed as a "henge". Like Stonehenge, this was a ritual enclosure consisting of a bank around an inner ditch, enclosed in a circle of upright stones. Dr Edwards used these digs along with work with researchers from University of Central Lancashire, Wales' historical environment service Cadw to meticulously recreate Bryn Celli Ddu for the video game. It was then incorporated into Minecraft's educational edition. This can be used anywhere in the world to teach lessons on chemistry or computer coding. Now you can add ancient Welsh history. From cromlechs and cairns – Wales' ancient burial grounds History of the world: The Bryn Celli Ddu Stone Why were so many hill forts built by the prehistoric? BBC Radio 3: Seren Griffiths of the New Generation Thinkers' BBC Radio 3 on Bryn Celli Ddu "I knew Bella had Minecraft education access at school, near Wrexham, but I also had access at university. "So it was always at the back of my mind for a while to do something in Minecraft," said Dr Edwards, who has worked on other more grown-up computer models of Bryn Celli Ddu in the past. "It wasn’t a huge priority, but then you’re in lockdown. It’s the Easter holidays and you’re home schooling. "I just said to Bella: 'Shall we have a crack at this?'" The game is well-known for its ability to create almost any kind of world or playground out of graphic blocks. Although it may sound like a game Dr Edwards took Bryn Celli Ddu's approach to Minecraft seriously and used actual geo-mapping data to recreate the Minecraft landscape. It includes the tomb itself, as it may have appeared in the Bronze Age, and alongside it other burial mounds and pits discovered in the last few years. A model of a Neolithic home is included in the game alongside rock art recovered from Bryn Celli Ddu. SERVERS Dr Edwards said that the most difficult thing to build was not the house or the burial mounds. He said, "It was planting trees." Each one had to be "planted" by Bella and her dad as part of the Minecraft world. Dr Edwards admitted that Bella had to show her how to do many things because she uses it more often than I. Final version was approved by her and she said it was "very real". "And she knew, because her father used to bring her down to the excavations as well," her father said. Dr Ffion Reynolds, from Cadw, said that Minecraft is best for children like Bella. "We were looking for creative ways of providing people with a digital experience of Bryn Celli Ddu," said Dr Reynolds, who would normally be spending the summer months giving guided tours of the excavations to schools from the area. "This was a way for us to keep in touch with those schools and offer them a digital way to 'visit the site'. Coronavirus restrictions have led to Cadw's sites 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 couldn't gather at the burial mound to see the dawn phenomenon there. Dr Reynolds stated that although it allowed us to access the area with a special camera crew, we were able capture the sunrise there with 360° filming. She said Cadw hoped to make the footage available in the very near future, as well as reopening the site to visitors. Meanwhile, those with access to Minecraft at home or in school can now visit the site digitally - in safety. The Bryn Celli Didu Minecraft world is available for free for the Minecraft Education version. This site is run by Hwb, which is the Welsh Government's teaching resource website. It also has links to the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage. For those looking for a more serious experience Dr Andrews and his team have created an augmented reality application for Apple devices. This app can be used to guide visitors around real sites once they reopen. New dig at prehistoric burial ground 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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