Minecraft Lockdown Lesson Recreates Ancient Island Tomb

<h1> Minecraft Lockdown Lesson Recreates Ancient Island Tomb</h1> <html><body> Minecraft Lockdown: Lockdown lesson recreates the an ancient island tomb Written by George Herd BBC News Consider an archaeologist, bored girl who is in coronavirus lockdown, and a common fascination with exploring ancient tombs. The result? One of Wales the most important Bronze Age sites recreated - in the video game Minecraft. It is Dr Ben Edwards from Wrexham and his daughter Bella who have achieved it. They are sharing their models of Anglesey's Bryn Celli Ddu with schools across the world. The models can be loaded into the block-building world of Minecraft, and explored to learn more about the website and Neolithic life and art. The burial mound dates back around five thousand years ago. Its called the "passage Tomb" is a perfect alignment with the sun at dawn on the solstice of summer. Recent excavations at the site, as well as some carried out by Dr. Edwards, Manchester Metropolitan University archaeologist, have revealed that the burial chamber was designed as a "henge". Similar to Stonehenge It was a ceremonial enclosure that consisted of the bank surrounding an inner ditch, which was enclosed by upright stones. Dr Edwards has used those digs, in conjunction with researchers from the University of Central Lancashire and Wales the historical environment service Cadw, to painstakingly recreate Bryn Celli Ddu in the video game. It was later incorporated into the educational version of Minecraft that is used around the world to deliver lessons in anything from chemistry to computer programming. You can now add ancient Welsh history to that list. From cromlechs and cairns – Wales ancient burial grounds History of the world The Bryn Celli Ddu Stone What was the reason that the prehistoric people built so many hill forts? BBC Radio 3: Seren Griffiths New Generation Thinkers on Bryn Celli Ddu "I knew that Bella had access to the educational version of Minecraft at her school in the area close to Wrexham and I had access to it at my university. Dr Edwards who worked on other computer models of Bryn Celli Ddu in past years and said that "So it was always in my head for a while..." "It wasn't a priority, but now it's lockdown, it is the Easter holidays, so you are homeschooling. "I just said to Bella"Can you have a go at this?'" The game is renowned for being able to construct almost everything out of blocks of graphics, creating huge worlds and playgrounds. While it might seem like an unending game, Dr. Edwards was serious about his approach to Bryn Celli Ddu and used real-world mapping data to create the Minecraft landscapes. It also includes the actual tomb as it appeared in the Bronze Age and other burial pits or mounds that were discovered in recent years. The game also features rock art by Bryn Celli Ddu, as also a model of a Neolithic home. Dr. Edwards stated that the most difficult thing to construct was not the home or the burial mounds. He claimed, "It was planting trees." Each one was individually "planted" and then tended by Bella and her father to become part of the Minecraft world. <a href="https://nicisoft.com/">Nici's Blog</a> "Bella was required to teach me how to do a number of things, because she uses it more than I do," Dr Edwards confessed. She later endorsed the final version and said that 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 specifically children like Bella who would benefit from playing with the Minecraft model. Dr. Reynolds said, "We were looking at innovative ways to give people a digital Experience of Bryn Celli Ddu." He would typically spend the summer months giving guided tours through the excavations to schools in the area. "This was a means to keep our relationship with these schools, while also providing them with the option of visiting the site 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 years, people who celebrate the summer solstice could not be at the burial site to watch the dawn phenomenon there. Dr. Reynolds said sunrise access was possible using 360-degree filming. She stated that Cadw hopes to release the footage in the near future, and also opening the site again to visitors. In the meantime, users who have access to Minecraft at home or in school can now play the Minecraft website online - in safety. The Bryn Celli Ddu Minecraft world is free to download the Minecraft Education version from Hwb - the Welsh Government's teaching resource website and also from the Manchester Centre for Public History and Heritage. For those looking for an experience that is more serious Dr. Andrews along with his colleagues have developed an augmented reality app for Apple devices that will guide users around the actual site once it reopens. New dig at the burial ground of a prehistoric era 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 </body></html> </h1>