Finding Buried Treasure in Minecraft

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There are multiple types of treasure which you can find in Minecraft, with the most common being Buried Treasure. This type of treasure was added in Minecraft 1.13, which was the Aquatic Update.

It’s not rare to find Buried Treasure, as they’ll quite often spawn around the game world. The only issue is that due to it being buried under sand, you won’t just casually stumble upon it. Instead, you’ll need to use maps.

This article contains a short Minecraft Guide on how to find treasure in Minecraft, as well as the loot you can expect to find. There isn’t any difference when it comes to finding treasure between Minecraft Bedrock and Java Editions.

Finding Buried Treasure

Treasure is randomly generated, and can be found by searching around Beaches and Oceans in Minecraft. When you do find it, Buried Treasure will simply be a single chest, containing a lot of loot. 

The chances of randomly coming across them are very low, as you’d have to excavate entire beaches. Instead, you would be best using ‘Buried Treasure Maps’, also known as ‘Explorer Maps’. You can obtain these maps from Villagers via trading, or by searching Shipwrecks or Underwater Ruins.

underwater ruin
An Underwater Ruin with a Chest, which Contains an Explorer Map

When you look at an Explorer Map, it will give a rough outline, showing both land and water in Minecraft. These maps can show multiple locations, including Buried Treasure, Woodland Mansions and Monuments. If a map shows Buried Treasure, then it will be indicated by a red ‘X’ icon. 

On the map, you should also be able to see a small grey circle or arrow. This is your character in Minecraft. You’ll need to keep moving around until this icon moves, so that you can get a general direction of where the treasure is buried.

finding buried treasure minecraft
Finding Buried Treasure After Following an Explorer Map

Once you’re at the X icon, just dig around in that general area. In most cases, it will be just a few blocks below the surface, as seen on the screenshot above.

Loot Found in Treasure Chests

One of the most sought after items from Treasure Chests in Minecraft is the ‘Heart of the Sea’. One of these will spawn in every chest you find, and are used to craft the Conduit. This is the only way to actually obtain Heart of the Sea.

minecraft java treasure loot
Loot Found Inside a Treasure Chest on Minecraft Java

The other loot that spawns varies on the platform you are playing on, whether it be Minecraft Java or Bedrock Edition. However, some of the best items includes Ingots, Diamonds, TNT, Chainmail Items, Potion of Water Breathing, Leads, Music Discs and Bottles of Enchanting. 

Other Types of Treasure Chests

The most common type of treasure is the ones found underground. Although it actually spawns elsewhere around your Minecraft world.

You can typically find treasure, or loot chests as they’re also called in other randomly generated structures. These include Dungeons, Strongholds, Jungle Temples, Desert Temples (Pyramids), Villages, Igloos, Woodland Mansions, Shipwrecks, Ocean Ruins, Nether Fortress, Pillager Outposts, Ruined Portals and Bastion Remnants.

However, they contain different loot to what you find when specifically searching for buried treasure. Some items are similar, such as Ingots, Armor and Diamonds. Although you shouldn’t expect to find a Heart of the Sea.

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Phillip Anderson
Phillip Anderson
Hey, I'm Phillip Anderson! After studying Video Game Design at University, I began writing articles at PwrDown in my free time. I currently play my games on PC, but also own a PS4 & Nintendo Switch. I'm also a VR enthusiast, owning an Oculus Rift S where you might find me playing Beat Saber or Skyrim VR!