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Take for example an archaeologist, a bored schoolgirl who lives through the coronavirus lockdown, and a shared interest in exploring ancient tombs.
The result? One of the most important Welsh Bronze Age sites recreated, in the Minecraft video game.
It is the achievement of Dr. Ben Edwards of Wrexham and his 11-year-old daughter Bella.
Her Bryn Celli Ddu models at Anglesey are now shared with classrooms around the world.
Models can be loaded into the Minecraft block building universe and explored to learn more about the site, Neolithic life, and art.
The burial mound dates back some 5,000 years, with its so-called “step tomb”, the entrance of which is perfectly aligned with the sun at dawn on the summer solstice.
The old and the modern: the Bryn Celli Ddu burial chamber for real, and in Minecraft
Image copyright
Rhys Thomas
The passage’s grave is aligned with the rising sun on the longest day of the year.
More recent excavations at the site, including some by the same Manchester Metropolitan University archaeologist, Dr. Edwards, revealed that the burial chamber was built as a “henge”.
Like Stonehenge, this was a ritual enclosure consisting of a bench around an inner ditch, enclosed in a circle of vertical stones.
Dr. Edwards has used those digs, along with working with researchers at the University of Central Lancashire and the Welsh Historic Environment Service, Cadw, to thoroughly recreate Bryn Celli Ddu in the video game.
It was later incorporated into the educational edition of Minecraft, which is used around the world to teach lessons in anything from chemistry to computer coding.
You can now add the old Welsh story to that list.
“I knew Bella had access to the educational version of Minecraft at school here near Wrexham, and I had access to it at my university.
“So it was always in the back of my mind to do something in Minecraft,” said Dr. Edwards, who has worked on other more adult Bryn Celli Ddu computer models in the past.
“It was never a massive priority, but you’re locked up, it’s Easter break and you’re studying at home.”
“I just said to Bella, ‘Should we have a crack in this?'”
Image copyright
Minecraft / Cadw / MMU
Real geographic data was used to map the Minecraft virtual site
The game is famous for gamers who can build almost anything from graphic blocks, creating massive worlds and playgrounds.
Although it may be a game, Dr. Edwards took Bryn Celli Ddu’s approach very seriously and used real geographic mapping data to recreate the landscape for Minecraft models.
It includes the tomb itself, as it may have appeared in the Bronze Age, and alongside it other burial mounds and graves discovered in recent years.
The recovered rock art from Bryn Celli Ddu is also depicted in the game, along with a model of what might have been a nearby Neolithic house.
According to Dr. Edwards, the hardest thing to build was not the burial mounds or the house.
“I was planting the trees,” he said.
Each one had to be “planted” individually and cultivated by Bella and her father as part of the Minecraft world.
“Bella had to show me how to do a lot of things, because she uses it more than I do,” Dr. Edwards confessed.
In the end, he approved the final version and said it was “very realistic”.
“And she knows, because she used to come to the excavations too,” added her father.
Image copyright
Minecraft / Cadw / MMU
A Neolithic settlement was recreated as part of the digital game project.
Cadw’s Dr. Ffion Reynolds said it was exactly children like Bella who would benefit from playing with the Minecraft model.
“We were looking for creative ways to provide people with a digital Bryn Celli Ddu experience,” said Dr. Reynolds, who would normally spend the summer months giving guided tours of the excavations to area schools.
“This was a way to continue our relationship with those schools and offer them a way to digitally ‘visit’ the site.”
Coronavirus restrictions mean that Cadw sites in Wales have been closed to the public, including Bryn Celli Ddu.
It also meant, for the first time in years, that those celebrating the summer solstice were unable to gather at the burial mound to witness the dawn phenomenon there.
“However, it allowed us access with special camera equipment, and we were able to capture the sunrise there with 360-degree filming,” added Dr. Reynolds.
She said Cadw hoped the images would be available in the very near future, as well as reopening the site to visitors.
Meanwhile, those with access to Minecraft at home or at school can now visit the site digitally, safely.
The World of Minecraft Bryn Celli Ddu is free to download for the Minecraft Education version of Hwb, the Welsh government’s teaching resource site, and also from the Manchester Center for History and Public Heritage.
And for those looking for a more serious experience, Dr. Andrews and his colleagues are behind an augmented reality app available for Apple devices, which can guide visitors around the actual site once it reopens.
