How to Find Buried Treasure in Minecraft: Java & Bedrock

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X (literally) marks the spot to this special Minecraft chest

Co-authored by Janice Tieperman

Last Updated: September 17, 2025 Fact Checked

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Finding Buried Treasure

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Troubleshooting FAQs

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Buried treasure is an incredible resource that players can find and dig up with the help of buried treasure maps, which can be found in shipwrecks and underwater ruins. In this guide, we’ll not only walk you through how to find these special maps, but how to use them to track down treasure. We’ll even touch on some troubleshooting tips in case you run into any issues, so you can enjoy your in-game treasure as quickly as possible.

Quick Steps

Head to a shipwreck or underwater ruins.
Find a buried treasure map in a chest.
Head to the red X marked on the map.
Dig beneath the X location to find a buried chest.

Section 1 of 2:

Finding Buried Treasure

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1
Find a buried treasure map. Scope out any nearby chests in a shipwreck or underwater ruins. On shipwrecks, any map chests you find have a 100% chance of spawning a buried treasure map; in underwater ruins, you have a 41.7% to 43.5% chance of finding a treasure map in a chest.^{[1]
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- Map chests typically spawn in the lower portions of shipwrecks.^{[2]
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  Research source} They often have items like paper and feathers in them. According to some players, you might not find map chests in partial shipwrecks.
- You can also find treasure and supply chests on shipwrecks. Supply chests can carry a wide variety of items, like suspicious stew, wheat, carrots, and the like, while treasure chests carry items like iron ingots, iron nuggets, emeralds, and lapis lazuli.^{[3]
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- Can’t find a shipwreck or underwater ruins? Enter your seed number, Minecraft version, and dimension into Chunk Base to find the coordinates of the nearest structure, which you can compare to your own coordinates.
Pull up the map so it’s the active item in your hotbar (like you would hold any map). You’ll see 2 major identifiers: a small white icon, which represents your location on the map, and a large red X, which signifies the location of the buried treasure.^{[4]
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Head in the direction of the red X. Treat the map like a compass: the top edge is north, the right edge is east, the bottom edge is south, and the left edge is west. Use your default location (the white marker) to determine which direction you need to head in.^{[5]
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- On Minecraft Java, hit F3 (or F3 + Fn on Mac) to pull up the debug screen. There, you can see which direction your player is currently facing, which can help you head toward the X.
- Minecraft Bedrock unfortunately doesn’t have a debug screen toggle, but you can use natural landmarks to get a sense of direction. Keep an eye on the sun and moon, for instance—both rise in the eastern horizon and set in the western horizon.^{[6]
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Center your white player icon beneath the X on the map. You know the drill—X marks the spot, so dig directly beneath it to find a buried chest. Keep in mind that the “X” location will always be on a beach, snowy beach, or stony shore (if you’re playing Bedrock).^{[7]
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- Some players suggest centering the white pointer directly beneath the X so no white is showing. Then, move back slightly so a few pixels of the white pointer are visible beneath the X. From that position, dig to find the chest.
- If you’re using Minecraft Java, other players advise pulling up the debug screen, adjusting until your chunk position is 9,9, and then digging right there.
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Dig in that area to find the buried treasure. If you’re in the correct spot, you’ll find a chest buried just beneath the surface of the sand/shore. Open it up to reveal a variety of treasures, including a guaranteed Heart of the Sea, which can be crafted into a Conduit.^{[8]
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- A Conduit offers power-ups and assistance to underwater or rainy battles, and can help damage nearby enemies.^{[9]
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Section 2 of 2:

Troubleshooting FAQs

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Try digging in nearby squares, in case your location is slightly off. Worst case scenario, you can use this as an opportunity to collect a lot of sand for future crafting recipes (like glass).
Theoretically, all buried treasure maps should lead to treasure of some kind. However, some players have reportedly had trouble finding treasure consistently with their maps, so there is a chance that some buried treasure maps won’t work as well as others.
You only need to dig down 1 block to find buried treasure.^{[10]
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