Archaeology Overview
Archaeological Research is a series of adventure mods focused on exploring civilizations and nature. By expanding archaeological gameplay, it offers players a more immersive experience of both the vanilla game and archaeology-related content.
Preface
The world is not static. Shaped by changes in land-sea patterns, seawaters rise and fall; glaciers that once covered vast areas have now subsided, retreating to the poles. The stage of life is equally volatile—species that once thrived may face extinction—yet players immersed in the world barely notice these transformations. Archaeological Research will lead players into a wonderful geological world: explore abandoned ancient ruins, search for traces of vanished prehistoric creatures, study mysterious symbols carved on stone steles, and uncover ancient civilizations recorded in age-old rituals. Brush suspicious blocks and sedimentary rocks to obtain loot and fossils within them. Of course, exquisite fossils also make excellent decorative collectibles. Archaeological Research will help players gain a basic understanding of archaeology, and it is believed that players will develop a strong interest in the field. So step out of your home and venture into the vast mountains and wilderness to find the answers!
Mod Introduction
- Archaeological Research: Exploration
As the core of the archaeological series mods, it integrates seamlessly into vanilla survival. The survival skills players have already mastered remain crucial no traditional mechanics (features) are disabled. Through a self-built archaeological system, the mod offers a more immersive adventure, enhancing fun while adapting to vanilla gameplay. It significantly extends game time, advocating a vanilla-style casual experience focused on immersion and easy crafting (no GUI interactions). Additionally, it provides players with a new way to obtain loot during their adventures.
Start Archaeological Research
- Suspicious blocks generate naturally in the world. Players can obtain loot by breaking (brushing) these blocks.
- Players can get palm bark by brushing suspicious palm logs (suspicious grass nests), which is used to craft palm fiber brushes.
- Players can obtain bamboo tubes by breaking suspicious debris piles, which are needed to make bamboo rafts. Seek out jungle biomes (to collect bamboo) to begin your archaeological journey.
- Functional blocks (without GUIs) require direct interaction. Some blocks have no crafting recipes and need to be built through player interaction—see details in (Progress > Exploration).
- Players can experience content freely based on intuition (even without any preparation). All recipes are data-driven: any item that can be used as input will match the output, and any realistic idea is possible (e.g., forging with hard objects, cutting materials, roasting food, etc.). Every creation by the player will be unique, and every drop of effort will be worthwhile.
Dependencies
- NeoForge Loader >= 21.1.217
- GeckoLib >= 4.8.2
Optional
- Jei >= 19.25.1.332
- Patchouli >= 1.21.1-92
Game Screenshot

Future Plans
- This mod is under active development.
- This mod is a new project redeveloped on NeoForge, and it will exclusively support NeoForge.
- More archaeology-related content (dimensions, biomes, structures, creatures, etc.) will be added in the future.
- If you have any great ideas, please feel free to get in touch with me.
How to Install Archaeological_Research:Exploration (Mod)
Archaeological_Research:Exploration by dondong is verified for Neoforge across Minecraft versions 1.21.1, 1.21.10, 1.21.11, 1.21.2, 1.21.3, 1.21.4, 1.21.5, 1.21.6 (latest release: 21.1-1.3.8-beta, file size: 2.7 MB). Follow the steps below to install it safely from ModCraft.tv:
- Click the Download button above and select your Minecraft version (1.21.1, 1.21.10, 1.21.11, 1.21.2, 1.21.3, 1.21.4, 1.21.5, 1.21.6) and platform (Neoforge).
- Make sure you have the compatible loader or environment installed for Neoforge.
- Move the downloaded Archaeological_Research:Exploration file into your Minecraft
.minecraft/modsfolder and launch the game.
All Versions
+ Add Version- This update fully optimizes and upgrades the tooltip prompts for all items, allowing players to quickly check item sources and functions, with full compatibility for ModernUI.
- Even when using multiple mods simultaneously, players do not need to look up relevant archaeology settings in advance. With items obtained accidentally during exploration, you can independently experience and explore the content of the Archaeology Research series.
- It strengthens the exploratory atmosphere of "encounter-based archaeology", clarifying that archaeological gameplay is optional extended content rather than mandatory gameplay. Players can freely enjoy the immersive exploration experience at their own pace.
- To better support more mods, this update removes changes to vanilla recipes and mob loot. No further vanilla content modifications will be made in the future; all expansions will only be additive.
- Continued adjustments to the spawn probability of certain suspicious blocks to make them more realistic and natural.
- Added tooltip descriptions for some content in preparation for a full description polish in the next update.
- Adjusted Suspicious Block drops: Brushing now grants various Smithing Templates (10% chance).
- Added Plant Fiber: Obtainable by brushing all types of Suspicious Logs.
- Increased Sedimentary Rock drop rate: Suspicious Resource Blocks from 20% → 40%.
- Improved textures for upgraded gear; set effects are now more visible.
- Added new advancements tab - Archaeology Encyclopedia, which displays all Suspicious Block loot.
- Dry Fiber: fuels 2 items
- Wood Chips: fuels 4 items
- Charcoal Pile: fuels 80 items
- To resolve conflicts with other mods' right-click interaction logic using sticks, which prevented bamboo blocks from being built with sticks, the following adjustments have been made:
- Added: Bamboo can now be obtained by breaking suspicious debris.
- Adjusted: The placement and crafting recipes for some bamboo blocks.
- Optimized: Crafting materials changed from sticks to bamboo, removing stick dependency.
- Added: Petals, Silkworms, and Bamboo Leaves now increase compost progress by 100%.
- Adjusted mod crop growth stages from 7 to 3 for faster fiber acquisition.
- Reduced crafting materials required for the Stone Vat in early game.
- Added recipe to craft Stone Core by dismantling Stone Slabs.
- Added edible function for Silkworms: 50% chance to grant Night Vision when consumed.
- Fixed the issue of low spawn rates for certain suspicious blocks in a multi-mod environment; reduced the crafting difficulty of ground tools.
- optimized the crafting logic of bamboo blocks and added support for the #C universal tag.
- Added Minecraft advancements and guidance.
- Completely revised Patchouli book text and guidance, with synchronized advancement unlocks.
- Adjusted crafting table and furnace recipes to match mod progression.
- Removed content that modifies vanilla crafting recipes, and added more JEI-compatible descriptions.
- Reduced the spawn rate of Suspicious Blocks, removed light pollution caused by the luminescence of some Suspicious Blocks, and restored the original crafting recipes for certain vanilla items.
- Fixed the game crash issue caused by the missing Patchouli mod.
- Version 1.2 introduces 4 new large-scale ruins for players to explore.
- This is a brand-new project fully rebuilt for NeoForge 1.21.1.