The Bryn Celli Ddu Minecraft Experience

Abstract

This article explores the technical and interpretative issues surrounding the creation of a Minecraft Education Edition world for use by primary age school children (5–11 years). The project team undertook to create a Minecraft version of the prehistoric landscape surrounding the Neolithic passage tomb of Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom. The workflow described here details the process from the initial aims of the project, designed to integrate heritage and STEM education; through the processing of lidar data to create the topography of the world; through the archaeological reconstruction; and then final release. An understanding of the workflow is particularly important for researchers and educators because the successful delivery of our aims resulted in a number of technical obstacles inherent in creating a Minecraft world when a designer is required to navigate several versions of the program—Java architecture, C++ architecture, and the Education Edition—and explains workarounds developed to overcome these issues. The article also considers the interpretative compromises required to translate complex archaeological remains into an accessible and engaging experience for school children set within the strictures of a program that allows a maximum physical resolution of a 1 × 1 m voxel block.