Tools & Basic Technique
The core tool is the Brush: 1 feather + 1 copper ingot + 1 stick. Aim at suspicious sand/gravel and hold right-click; when the progress bar completes you always get an item (a sherd or rare material), and the suspicious block breaks. Notes: 1) Brushes have durability — bring 2-3 for large sites. 2) A suspicious block mined normally is destroyed forever — mind your feet. 3) Excavated blocks never respawn; each site's supply is finite.
Three New 1.22 Dig Sites
1.22 adds three sites beyond the desert temple, ocean ruins, and trail ruins: 1) Desert pyramid chamber — a hidden room below the main structure with 4 new sherds and a low-chance enchanted golden apple. 2) Jungle temple chamber — a new brushing layer deep in the tripwire room, yielding jungle-themed sherds and the bamboo mosaic pattern. 3) Swamp archaeology pit — a brand-new surface site, shallow but with the densest suspicious blocks, the fast route to mending-themed sherds and sniffer eggs (low chance).
Sherd Gallery & Decorated Pots
There are 20+ sherd patterns; combine 4 different sherds + 1 brick in a crafting table for a decorated pot. Pots have little practical use but make superb collectible decor — the new bamboo mosaic sherd pot pairs naturally with Chinese-style courtyards. Rare sherds (like Flow and Skeleton) only drop at high-difficulty sites and are top collection targets.
Sniffers & Ancient Plants
Sniffers hatch from sniffer eggs found in ocean ruins; adults periodically sniff out suspicious gravel where you can dig up ancient seeds. 1.22 adds two sniffer plants: the Torchflower (seeds for dye and food) and the Pitcher Plant (pods for cyan dyes and decor). Enclose a sniffer in a sandy beach pen for the most stable ancient-seed supply.