What is suspicious sand in Minecraft?

Introduced in Minecraft's latest Java snapshot and Bedrock preview, suspicious sand is an all-new block that's relevant to the new archeology mechanic. When brushed by a player, these blocks can release buried items within them, depending on where the sand is found.

Suspicious sand is slightly different in texture from ordinary sand in Minecraft. This makes it difficult to distinguish it from standard sand in desert biomes.

Players searching for suspicious sand for archeological purposes will need a keen eye to spot it. They'll also need to be careful not to break the blocks once they find them.

Suspicious sand is incredibly easy to break as a block, and doing so will remove the opportunity to collect any of the items buried within them.

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What we know about Minecraft's suspicious sand from early snapshots and previews

Desert wells are one of two Minecraft structures where suspicious sand can be found (Image via Mojang)

Much of what is known about suspicious sand blocks at the moment comes from early snapshots and previews. However, properties pertaining to these blocks may change significantly when they're fully released in Minecraft update 1.20. Be that as it may, there are certain takeaways that players can take from suspicious sand blocks at this early juncture that should remain relatively unchanged in the future.

Suspicious sand blocks currently generate near desert wells and desert temples in Minecraft. They aren't renewable, so the only supply that players will have of these blocks are the ones that generate within the game world. They drop nothing when mined and are affected by gravity but break upon landing. This is why players must handle them with care to get what's buried inside.

To obtain the items inside suspicious sand in Minecraft, players will need to use a brush. This new tool is created by combining two sticks and three pieces of string in a crafting table. Players can then right-click on a suspicious sand block (or press the use item button on their console). Certain items will pop out of it, depending on whether the sand is near a well or a desert temple.

Once the suspicious sand block has been brushed, and its item has been removed, it will turn back into ordinary sand. Suspicious sand found near temples can drop pottery shards (Archer/Prize/Skull patterns), gunpowder, TNT blocks, diamonds, and emeralds. Meanwhile, if players brush suspicious sand near desert wells, they will find pottery shards (Arms Up pattern), bricks, sticks, suspicious stew, and emeralds.

According to Mojang's recent blog post detailing the sniffer mob, the sniffer's eggs will also eventually be included as a drop from suspicious sand.

However, the sniffer was included in the latest snapshot and preview without many of its final features included. Mojang still has the right to change things as it sees fit in the future. Perhaps in later snapshots or previews before update 1.20, players will be able to find sniffer eggs in suspicious sand blocks, as Mojang has stated.

Whatever the case may be, there's little doubt that suspicious sand and archeology add a whole new and well-deserved dimension to Minecraft gameplay.