Unearthing Ceramic Mysteries: Minecraft Pottery Shards

Boring people with glasses that spend their time looking at old rocks? An adventurer using his whips and whits to find treasure? Maybe you even want to become one someday? In any case, archeology in Minecraft is different from those examples – and it all revolves around pottery sherds. These small items are any Minecraft archeologist’s dream, but finding them isn’t that easy.

The History of Pottery Shards

Pottery sherds have brought a touch of ancient history into Minecraft’s blocky world. But wait — are they called sherds or shards? You might be irritated when you see that the game has opted for naming the pieces of ceramic ‘sherd,’ but this is, in fact, not a typo! Both ‘shard’ and ‘sherd’ refer to broken pieces of pottery, but “sherd” is traditionally used in archaeology when talking about broken ceramic or clay. In contrast, ‘shard’ is only used for pieces of metal, glass or mineral So, since these ancient artifacts are pottery pieces, ‘sherd’ is the right word to use. But hey, they’re basically the same thing, so don’t sweat it if you call them shards in-game – it’s not like the difference is that big of a deal!

Now that we’ve got that cleared up, let’s jump into all things Minecraft pottery sherds, including where to find them, what they’re for and if you can craft them.

What Are Minecraft Pottery Shards?

Minecraft pottery sherds are decorative collectible items that came packaged with the ‘Trails & Tales’ update, adding a touch of archaeology to the game. Each sherd has a unique pattern etched onto it and when you put four of these together, you get a decorative clay pot! They’re fun, rare and add a bit of ancient culture to your builds.

Unfortunately for the pottery sherds, Minecraft doesn’t offer any other way to use these ceramic pieces, so many players don’t pay too much attention to them, as they don’t offer any real advantage in battle or for survival. But Minecraft isn’t just a series of mob battles and survival challenges, it’s more than that. So give a little love to some pottery shards Minecraft has left in the sand for you. And, speaking of which…

How to Find Pottery Shards in Minecraft

You might’ve already caught up on the fact that you haven’t really seen any MC pottery shards (unless you already know how to get them.) They are hidden treasures in the truest sense of the word and can only be uncovered in two ways: using a new tool called the brush or by breaking the decorated pots you can find in trial chambers. Since the trial chamber method is pretty easy to understand (just go in and destroy the pots), we will focus on the brush method.

So, how do you find pottery shards in Minecraft? To start your archaeological journey, you’ll need to find suspicious sand or suspicious gravel blocks. These special blocks contain ancient items and are your primary source of the pottery sherds. Minecraft spawns them at different locations, but we will list these locations below. Once you found some, simply use your brush on them and if luck is on your side, you might uncover a pottery sherd!

Keep in mind that every Minecraft archeologist worth their salt never leaves their house without a brush, ready to move the dust of any block of gravel and/or sand they come across.

Where to Find Pottery Shards in Minecraft

While both suspicious sand and suspicious gravel can contain Minecraft pottery shards, you need to look for specific locations in certain biomes to find these blocks. If you want suspicious sand, look here:

• desert temples: one of the best spots for finding pottery sherds. You’ll find suspicious sand near the bottom layers — just watch out for those sneaky traps!
• desert wells: although a bit rare, desert wells can contain suspicious sand. Keep an eye out when exploring desert biomes.
• warm ocean ruins: found at the bottom of the ocean, these ruins sometimes contain suspicious sand. For an easier time searching through these ruins, install a conduit that provides you with as much air as needed.

For suspicious gravel, you can check out these locations:

cold ocean ruins: while the warm ocean brings you suspicious sand, the cold ocean yields gravel instead. If you wonder how you can differentiate between the two: just look at the weather; snow only generates around cold oceans.
trail ruins: admittedly, trail ruins are a bit harder to search for suspicious gravel, because only a few of these blocks contain Minecraft pottery shards. But hey, if archeology was easy, it wouldn’t be half as fun.

All in all, suspicious blocks are tricky to find, but that shouldn’t deter any aspiring archeologist. So pack your things, champ and catch all the Minecraft pottery shards you can get your sandy and/or gravely hands on.

Can You Craft Pottery Sherds?

Of course, the age-old question of craftability comes into play here. But sorry to inform you, crafting enthusiasts – MC pottery shards are not something you can craft. Unlike many other items, you can’t just throw together some clay and magically get a Minecraft pottery sherd. These little treasures can only be found through careful excavation. So put down your crafting tables and get ready to dig up some history!

What Do You Do with Pottery Shards in Minecraft?

Currently, there are 23 different types of pottery sherds in Minecraft, each with a unique pattern. Listing all of them would take a bit too much time, but rest assured that each and every one of them is unique in its design. Most importantly, you can use these different shards to create an extremely high number of different decorated pots. Yes, you heard that right; this is how to use pottery sherds in Minecraft: to make decorated pots.

combination of 4x pottery shards and/or bricks = 1x decorated pot

You’ll need 4 pottery sherds (they can be all different types or the same, depending on your style). Arrange them on a crafting table to make a decorative pot – with unique designs on each side! This is the twist of the Minecraft pottery sherd, as each side of the pot you’re crafting can have a different pattern. This leads to a lot of different possible combinations, 82,944 in fact. Some of the mathematically gifted among you might raise a brow at this number, because it is too high if there are only 23 Minecraft pottery shard types – and you would be right. The missing 24th pattern comes not from a pottery shard but from bricks, which you can use to craft decorative pots that have no pattern at all.

Sure, these pots don't have any practical uses, but they make a fantastic decoration. Whether you want to add some mystery to your library, spice up your kitchen or just show off your archaeological prowess, a pot with your signature style makes a stylish statement. Just imagine a world thousands of years after your Minecraft kingdom has come and gone. The archeologists of the future will look upon your pots and try to decipher your secrets, wondering what the combination of a heart, a pickaxe, a sword and a bow could mean.

Minecraft pottery sherds might be small at the end of the day, but they bring a whole new level of intrigue and creativity to the game. They aren’t craftable and require some effort to find but the reward is worth it. Not only do they allow you to create unique decorative pots, but they’re also a fun reminder of Minecraft’s ever-evolving world. Aren’t you just burning up with the desire to go out and brush some blocks? Then go to a Minecraft server from G-Portal, grab your brush, start digging and let the ancient art of pottery add some flair to your builds, archeologist!