Locating Buried Treasure in Minecraft: Your Guide to Treasure Maps (2024)

What can be more fun than going on a treasure hunt? If you’re a Minecraft player, hidden treasure may be buried under your two blocky feet – you just need to know how to find it. Consider this to be your ultimate guide to uncovering buried treasure in Minecraft. Whether you have yet to find your first map or are struggling to dig up the reward it’s supposed to lead to, we have you covered.

What Exactly Is Buried Treasure in Minecraft?

Buried treasure in Minecraft is a naturally generated structure, resembling a loot chest (not to be confused with a loot box), that is primarily found buried on beaches and occasionally on the ocean floor. It was added to the game as part of the 1.13 Update, known as The Update Aquatic, bringing new exploration possibilities to players.

Each buried treasure chest is a trove of various items, but one thing you can always expect to find is a Heart of the Sea. This rare item is exclusive to buried treasure and essential for crafting a conduit, an undersea beacon-like structure that provides players with special powers.

Other items that can be found inside buried treasure chests range from iron swords and gold ingots to emeralds, diamonds, or prismarine crystals, just to give a few examples. Needless to say, finding a buried treasure can be a greatly rewarding experience, but that’s where the challenge starts.

Good to know: are you new to Minecraft? Read this list of Minecraft tips for newbies to become a pro in no time.

How to Find Buried Treasure in Minecraft

Embarking on a quest for buried treasure in Minecraft requires a bit of know-how and the essential tool: a treasure map.

Treasure maps in Minecraft look just like stereotypical pirate maps and provide only the most basic layout of the land where the buried treasure is located. The treasure itself is marked with a red X. There’s also a white icon that indicates the player’s current position.

In both the Java Edition and Bedrock Edition of Minecraft, treasure maps are 100% guaranteed to be found in shipwreck map chests located in – you’ve guessed it: shipwrecks – and they also appear in small and big ruins chests in underwater ruins, but with only around 40% chance of discovery.

We recommend you look for a shipwreck in an ocean or on a beach (or a snowy beach). The potion of night vision can help you see clearly underwater, or you can feed a friendly dolphin some raw cod or raw salmon, and it will lead you to the nearest shipwreck, buried treasure, or ocean ruin.

Note: a treasure map doesn’t always show a red X. If there’s no buried treasure to be found in the map’s location, it will turn into a regular map.

The Best Way to Find Buried Treasure in Minecraft

Once you have your map, it’s time to start your quest. The map will always point to the closest buried treasure, relative to where the map was found. Two maps found in the same location can point to the same treasure. As you move, the white icon will update your current location in relation to the treasure. The goal is to navigate your way toward the red X, keeping in mind that the terrain may not perfectly match the map.

The biggest challenge is that the “up” on your treasure map will always be North, regardless of the direction you’re facing in the game, which the map doesn’t show until you’re within the map area.

Luckily for you, there’s a way to determine your orientation and navigate effectively:

• In Java Edition, bring up the debug screen by pressing F3. This screen shows your current coordinates and direction (north, south, east, west). You can use this to align yourself with the map and find your way to the treasure.
• In Bedrock Edition, display your block position by changing the world options. Turn on the Show Coordinates option in the game settings. The coordinates will appear in a box in the top left of the screen.

Of course, you can always just remember that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Now that you’re facing the correct direction toward the X on your map, keep walking (and possibly sailing) until the white icon that represents your current location is near it. You can start digging in the general area, but you could be digging for a while, as buried treasure is typically located approximately 40 blocks below the ground level.

To save some time, center the top point of your write icon with the bottom side of the X. Move forward until the white part of the icon is entirely covered by the X. Move back very slightly so that a few white pixels become visible. Dig straight down; the treasure chest you’re looking for should be right there!

Now that you have a guaranteed way to locate buried treasure in Minecraft, if you’re hungry for more adventures that end with epic loot, check out our list of the top 11 free RPG games to play in 2024.

Image credit: Pixabay. All screenshots by David Morelo.