How to Get Pottery Shards in Minecraft 1.20

Giving rise to a whole new wave of creativity and expression, Minecraft is bringing the much-awaited archaeology features to the game with the 1.20 Trails and Tales update. And pottery shards are the ones leading this new archaeological revolution. Whether you want to use them as building bricks or just decorative items, they help you express yourself in a variety of ways. But that’s for later. Right now, let’s learn how to get pottery shards in Minecraft 1.20 and make the most out of them.

Find Pottery Shards in Minecraft (2023)

Note: At the moment, pottery shards and all other archaeological features are only available as experimental elements of Minecraft Snapshot 23W07A. All its mechanics and features are subject to change before the final release.

What Is a Pottery Shard

Pottery shards are new archaeological items that have made their way into the game with the Minecraft 1.20 update. They spawn as hidden objects inside the new suspicious sand blocks. Instead of mining or breaking them, you have to use a brush to unveil these pottery shards to collect them.

Types of Pottery Shards in Minecraft

At the moment, there are four types of pottery shards in Minecraft:

• Archer
• Skull
• Arms Up
• Prize

Each of these pottery shards has a unique symbol on them that relates to their name. Furthermore, the same symbol shows up when you turn the pottery shards into a pot.

How to Find Pottery Shards in Minecraft

Now that you know the basics of pottery shards, let’s venture into the overworld and collect some of them. Follow these steps to find pottery shards in Minecraft:

1. First, go to the desert biome of Minecraft and look for a Desert Temple or a desert well. We suggest you stick with the wells because they are much more reliable.

2. Then, you need to look for suspicious sand blocks. They always spawn at the bottom of the desert well. Use our dedicated guide linked here to learn more about these new sand blocks.

3. Finally, you need to use the brush on these suspicious sand blocks. It will slowly reveal a pottery shard. You get one pottery shard from each suspicious sand block. Learn how to make a brush in Minecraft via this dedicated guide.

How to Use Pottery Shards

As the name suggests, pottery shards are used to make unique decorative pots in Minecraft. Once you find four pottery shards, you simply need to combine them on a crafting table using the crafting recipe shown below. Since each pottery shard only reflects one face of the pot, you can use any type of pottery shard while making a pot.

Collect Pottery Shards in Minecraft Today

Whether you want to decorate your Minecraft house or create an archaeological custom map, the pottery shards are here to help. But before you collect them, we suggest you meet a Sniffer, which can sniff out ancient seeds like torchflower that grow into beautiful decorative plants in Minecraft. Meanwhile, if you struggle while collecting these shards, our list of best Minecraft desert seeds for archaeology adventures can give you a major head start. Having said that, which is your favorite type of pottery shard? Tell us in the comments below!