Overview
Trails & Tales, released as 1.20, is the update that decided Minecraft did not always have to be about killing something. Archaeology is the clearest expression of that: suspicious sand and suspicious gravel are brushed, not mined, one slow swing at a time, and what comes out is a pottery sherd, a smithing template or a bead rather than a resource. Sherds become decorated pots, which are purely expressive — four sherds, four faces, a pot that says something about where you have been. Armour trims work the same way, letting you restyle a full set of netherite without touching a single one of its numbers, which is the first time the game separated appearance from stats at that scale. The Sniffer arrived as the winner of a community vote and digs up two plants that existed nowhere else. Cherry groves gave the Overworld its prettiest biome and a pink wood set to go with it; bamboo became a full building material with its own raft; hanging signs and the chiseled bookshelf filled long-standing gaps; and camels finally gave desert villages a reason to exist.
Non-combat progression: brushing for sherds and templates, decorating armour without changing its stats, growing extinct plants from sniffer finds, and building in cherry, bamboo and mud brick. It also added trail ruins and gave desert villages camels.
Trails & Tales was about self-expression and exploration rather than combat. Archaeology added a whole new way to obtain items, brushing rather than mining, with pottery sherds as its collectibles. Armour trims let players decorate gear without changing its stats, and the sniffer resurrected two extinct plants. Cherry groves gave the Overworld its prettiest biome, and camels made desert villages worth visiting for the first time.
How to get it
Java Edition 1.20 was released on 7 June 2023 as a major update. Select it in the launcher, or 1.20.1 for most servers of that era — the 2 are content-identical and 1.20.1 is what the plugin ecosystem settled on.
Tips
- Always use a brush on suspicious blocks. A shovel or pickaxe destroys the item inside with no warning and no particle.
- A brush has 64 uses, so carry 2 or 3 to a trail ruin rather than walking back for another.
- Armour trims change appearance only — a trimmed netherite chestplate still has exactly the same 8 armour points.
- Sniffer eggs come from warm ocean ruins rather than from trail ruins, so a sniffer means an ocean trip, not a land one.
Version notes
Released 7 June 2023. Added archaeology, the sniffer, camels, cherry groves, the bamboo wood set, armour trims, hanging signs, the chiseled bookshelf and trail ruins.
What it added
- Archaeology: brushes, suspicious sand and gravel, pottery sherds and decorated pots
- The sniffer, voted in by players, which digs up torchflower seeds and pitcher pods
- Cherry grove biome with pink cherry blossom trees and a full cherry wood set
- Bamboo wood set and the bamboo raft
- Camels, two-seat mounts that dash and are too tall for most mobs to hit
- Armour trims and smithing templates, giving armour customisable appearances
- Hanging signs and the chiseled bookshelf
- Trail ruins, a buried archaeological structure
Properties
Minecraft 1.20 was released on June 7, 2023 as a major release. It added 2 mobs, 11 blocks and items the site documents, and 1 generated structures.
- New blocks and items
- 11
- New structures
- 1
New mobs
Sniffer and Camel arrived in this release.
New blocks and items
Cherry Log, Cherry Planks, Bamboo Planks, Bamboo Mosaic, Decorated Pot, Suspicious Sand and 5 more were added, and each has its own page with the recipe, the drops and the break times.
New structures
Trail Ruins first generated in 1.20.
- Trail Ruins — A buried settlement of terracotta, mud bricks and stripped logs, almost entirely underground, so it is easy to walk over one without noticing.
Where it sits in the release line
1.20 sits 7 of 28 in the release list this site covers, with 1.20.5 after it and 1.19 before.
Worlds always upgrade forwards and never downgrade: a world opened in a newer version cannot be opened in an older one again, so back it up before the first launch on a new release.
| Version | Name | Released | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Minecraft 1.20.5 | Armored Paws | April 23, 2024 | Point release |
 | Minecraft 1.20 ← | Trails & Tales | June 7, 2023 | Major release |
 | Minecraft 1.19 | The Wild Update | June 7, 2022 | Major release |
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
What did archaeology add in 1.20?
Brushes, suspicious sand and suspicious gravel, pottery sherds and decorated pots, plus smithing templates for four armour trims found only in trail ruins.
Do armour trims affect protection?
No. Trims are cosmetic only. They change the look of a piece of armour and nothing about its armour points, toughness or enchantments.
What does the sniffer do?
It digs up torchflower seeds and pitcher pods, two plants that cannot be obtained any other way. Sniffer eggs are brushed from suspicious sand in warm ocean ruins.
What did Minecraft 1.20 add?
Archaeology: brushes, suspicious sand and gravel, pottery sherds and decorated pots The sniffer, voted in by players, which digs up torchflower seeds and pitcher pods Cherry grove biome with pink cherry blossom trees and a full cherry wood set
When was Minecraft 1.20 released?
Java Edition 1.20 was released on June 7, 2023. Bedrock dates for the same content often differ by days or weeks.