Unearth

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Unearth

Dig deep Discover history

An archaeology guessing game. Excavate a site layer by layer, recover what lies buried and name the country you’re digging in.

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    Terms

    Everyone excavates identical sites. Recover fewer finds and identify faster for more points.

    Site 01 / 05

    Breaking ground

    Form UE-1 · Expedition order

    New expedition

    No. 0001
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    Worldwide expeditions are entered in the leaderboard.
    Expedition paused

    Field tent

    Click
    Dig / use tool
    1 – 4
    Equip tool
    Right-drag
    Walk around
    Q · E · R
    Turn · reset view
    Arrows · Enter
    Select · dig
    G
    Identify site

    Settings

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    Cat. — Drag to turn · scroll to zoom
    Research bench · catalogue entry
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            Field manual · 2nd edition
            
    Field guide
    
            
        
    
        
      
            
    1. Excavate
      Every site is an 8×8 grid of excavation units with three layers of soil above bedrock. Click a unit to remove a layer. Deeper layers are older — and hold the rarest finds.
      2. 
            
    2. Read the clues
      Potsherds on the surface lie near buried finds. Dark soil stains mark something deep below. A survey probe counts every hidden find in the 3×3 units around it.
      3. 
            
    3. Recover
      When a find starts to show through the soil, brush it clean to lift it out. On site you only know what you can see — material, type, age and condition; its name and history are recorded after you identify the site. Shovels are fast but can chip what they uncover, and badly damaged finds can barely be described.
      4. 
            
    4. Identify the site
      Use your finds to name the country. One find or none: 500 points, then 100 less per extra find — plus a second-by-second time bonus. A wrong answer costs 100.
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    The kit
    
        
    
            
    ToolKeyAreaUse it for
    
            
                
    Shovel13×3Clearing ground quickly. May chip finds it uncovers.
    
                
    Trowel21×1Careful work on a single unit. Never damages a find.
    
                
    Brush3FindCleaning an exposed find until it can be lifted out.
    
                
    Probe43×3Counting hidden finds. Three charges per site.
    
                
        
    
        
    Right-drag (or one-finger drag) to walk around the trench, scroll or pinch to zoom, R resets the view. Arrow keys select a unit and Enter digs.
    

        
    
            
    About Unearth
    
            
    Unearth is a free archaeology guessing game for your browser — part excavation, part geography quiz. Its archive holds 768 artifacts, 24 from each of 32 countries: everyday potsherds, coins, lamps and spindle whorls alongside Egyptian funerary masks, Chinese oracle bones, Viking swords, Benin brasses and 2.6-million-year-old stone tools, each with a short note on its real history.
    
            
    Play a solo expedition worldwide or by region, take on the Daily Dig that everyone plays with the same sites, or host a private lobby and race up to nine friends to identify each site. Every artifact you recover is catalogued in your personal Archive.