Ancient Fossils expands Minecraft’s archaeology system into a full paleontology experience.
Instead of brushing a few suspicious blocks and walking away with pottery sherds, you can discover actual dinosaur fossils, restore complete skeletons, work with paleontologists, and turn your finds into massive prehistoric displays.
Rare fossil deposits and paleontology dig sites can be found throughout dry and open biomes. You may come across excavation camps complete with tents, supply chests, equipment, and fossil-rich patches of suspicious dirt, sand, and gravel.
Grab your brush and start digging. Hidden inside are bones belonging to different prehistoric species, and finding every piece of a skeleton can take some serious exploring.
Bring the fossils you find back to the Paleontology Workbench to begin restoring them.
Each dinosaur has its own complete fossil set, including pieces like the skull, jaw, neck, spine, ribs, pelvis, limbs, and tail. Collect the entire set and you’ll be able to assemble a large multi-block skeleton display.
Build a small fossil collection in your base or go all out and create an entire museum.
Current dinosaurs include Velociraptor, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Carnotaurus, Pterodactyl, and Tyrannosaurus Rex, with more planned.
Ancient Fossils also adds Paleontologist villagers.
They use the Paleontology Workbench as their job site and, instead of the normal villager trading screen, open a custom fossil appraisal menu.
Bring them the bones you uncover and they’ll buy them for emeralds. Common fossils won’t make you rich, but rarer bones — especially skulls — are worth considerably more.
So even duplicate fossils are still useful.
The Fossil Journal keeps track of the bones you’ve discovered and the skeletons you’ve completed.
There are also archaeology-themed advancements that take you from uncovering your first fossil all the way to assembling museum exhibits, displaying complete skeletons, and adding plaques to your collection.
Whether you want to hunt down every fossil, make emeralds selling rare bones, or build a giant dinosaur museum in survival, Ancient Fossils gives Minecraft archaeology a lot more to uncover.
