Archaeology is a skill where dig sites located in Cartography can be excavated to discover an assortment of rare and unique items, which provide assistance for progression of many other skills.
Dig sites are found all over the map of Melvor in Cartography. Dig site hexes (tiles) must be surveyed up to Level 5 before they unlock in the Archaeology skill. Some dig sites also require certain map items to be obtained before they can be surveyed. Obtaining a map item will mark the respective dig site on the map with a "" icon.
A flyer detailing the location of the Sacrificial Site (Dig Site) in Cartography. An icon has now appeared displaying its location. You can sell this item.
A chart detailing the location of the Shipwreck Cove Dig Site in Cartography. An icon has now appeared displaying its location. You can sell this item.
The primary action for Archaeology is Excavating. The default interval per Excavation action is 5 seconds.
In order to begin Excavating a Dig Site, the player must select a Dig Site Map. Dig Site Maps are created using Cartography. Players receive an Excellent quality map when they first discover a Dig Site, although future maps will start at Poor quality. Please see the Cartography page for more information on creating maps.
In addition to selecting a map, players will also have to select which tools they wish to use. The tools selected determine which sizes of Artefacts can be found. Multiple tools can be selected, but doing so will divide the chance to find a given size of artefact by the total number of tools selected. (For example, if you had a 12% chance to find a Tiny artefact with only the Sieve selected, selecting another tool will reduce the chance of finding a Tiny artefact to 6%)
Artefact Values
Each map has four Artefact values, one for each size. The lower the value is, the higher the chance of finding an Artefact of a given size. Created maps will start at Poor quality with an Artefact value of 69 for each of the four sizes. Maps found from Discovering a Dig Site start at Excellent quality with an Artefact value of 33 for each of the four sizes.
When a map is upgraded to the next tier using Map Creation in Cartography, each of the four Artefact values will be reduced by a random number from 13-23. This means a map created at Poor quality and then fully upgraded to Perfect will be reduced by 39-69, resulting in Artefact values ranging from 30-1. Note that the minimum Artefact value that can be reached is 1.
Two of the Refinements that can be added to maps further reduce Artefact values for a chosen size by 5. The player can choose whether to apply both of these to the same size or to split them between two different sizes. The minimum Artefact value of 1 can not be circumvented by Refinements.
Map Level
Each map has a level associated with it. The level is calculated based on the Artefact values of a map as follows:
Although the Map level is purely a reflection of the Artefact Values and does not convey any additional information it can be used to quickly evaluate how strong a given map is. The level of Perfect maps can range from 79-151 with an average of 105. A Poor map starts out at level 48 and an automatically provided Excellent map starts out at level 75.
Tool Level
Each of the Archaeology tools starts at level 0. This level can be increased in several ways:
Each Tool can be upgraded in the Shop, receiving +1 Tool level per upgrade purchased, up to a maximum of +11
Every 50 donations to the Museum will provide +1 Tool level for all tools, up to a maximum of +5 (at 250 donations)
The 50% Mastery Pool checkpoint for Archaeology provides +3 Tool level for all tools
This chance is divided by the number of tools selected to determine the actual chance to discover an artefact of a given size.
Excavation Actions
Each map has a limited number of actions before it is depleted. Poor maps have a random number of actions ranging from 2,000-4,000. Every tier upgrade randomly adds an additional 2,000-4,000 actions to the map. Newly created Perfect maps may be used 8,000-12,000 times.
Tools
Sieve
Name
Level
Cost
Increased SieveTool Level
This Sieve
Total
Iron Sieve
5
500 25
+1
+1
Steel Sieve
10
2,500 25
+1
+2
Mithril Sieve
20
10,000 25
+1
+3
Aranite Sieve
25
20,000 25
+1
+4
Adamant Sieve
35
50,000 25
+1
+5
Rune Sieve
50
200,000 25
+1
+6
Dragon Sieve
60
2,000,000 25
+1
+7
Ancient Sieve
75
4,000,000 15
+1
+8
Dark Steel Sieve
85
7,500,000 100
+1
+9
Crystal Sieve
95
10,000,000 200
+1
+10
Relic Sieve
118
20,000,000 1
+1
+11
Trowels
Name
Level
Cost
Increased TrowelTool Level
This Trowel
Total
Iron Trowel
5
500 25
+1
+1
Steel Trowel
10
2,500 25
+1
+2
Mithril Trowel
20
10,000 25
+1
+3
Aranite Trowel
25
20,000 25
+1
+4
Adamant Trowel
35
50,000 25
+1
+5
Rune Trowel
50
200,000 25
+1
+6
Dragon Trowel
60
2,000,000 25
+1
+7
Ancient Trowel
75
4,000,000 15
+1
+8
Dark Steel Trowel
85
7,500,000 100
+1
+9
Crystal Trowel
95
10,000,000 200
+1
+10
Relic Trowel
118
20,000,000 1
+1
+11
Brushes
Name
Level
Cost
Increased BrushTool Level
This Brush
Total
Iron Brush
5
500 25
+1
+1
Steel Brush
10
2,500 25
+1
+2
Mithril Brush
20
10,000 25
+1
+3
Aranite Brush
25
20,000 5
+1
+4
Adamant Brush
35
50,000 25
+1
+5
Rune Brush
50
200,000 25
+1
+6
Dragon Brush
60
2,000,000 25
+1
+7
Ancient Brush
75
4,000,000 15
+1
+8
Dark Steel Brush
85
7,500,000 100
+1
+9
Crystal Brush
95
10,000,000 200
+1
+10
Relic Brush
118
20,000,000 1
+1
+11
Shovels
Name
Level
Cost
Increased ShovelTool Level
This Shovel
Total
Iron Shovel
5
500 25
+1
+1
Steel Shovel
10
2,500 25
+1
+2
Mithril Shovel
20
10,000 25
+1
+3
Aranite Shovel
25
20,000 25
+1
+4
Adamant Shovel
35
50,000 25
+1
+5
Rune Shovel
50
200,000 25
+1
+6
Dragon Shovel
60
2,000,000 25
+1
+7
Ancient Shovel
75
4,000,000 15
+1
+8
Dark Steel Shovel
85
7,500,000 100
+1
+9
Crystal Shovel
95
10,000,000 200
+1
+10
Relic Shovel
118
20,000,000 1
+1
+11
Skillcape
The Archaeology Skillcape can be purchased from the store for 1,000,000 after the player reaches Level 99.
The Archaeology Skillcape is the skillcape for the Archaeology skill. It can be purchased for 1,000,000 from the Shop once the player reaches Level 99 in the Archaeology skill. The Archaeology Skillcape offers the following benefits when worn:
+10% chance to preserve dig site map excavation actions, +1 level of the Sieve Tool in Archaeology, +1 level of the Trowel Tool in Archaeology, +1 level of the Brush Tool in Archaeology, and +1 level of the Shovel Tool in Archaeology
Superior Skillcape
The Superior Archaeology Skillcape is the superior skillcape for the Archaeology skill. It can be purchased for 10,000,000 from the Shop once the player reaches Level 120 in the Archaeology skill. Level 120 can only be reached if the player owns the Throne of the Herald expansion. Likewise, the superior skillcape can only be purchased if the player owns this expansion. The superior skillcape offers the following benefits when worn:
+1 base primary resource quantity gained in Archaeology, +15% chance to preserve dig site map excavation actions, +3 levels of the Sieve Tool in Archaeology, +3 levels of the Trowel Tool in Archaeology, +3 levels of the Brush Tool in Archaeology, and +3 levels of the Shovel Tool in Archaeology
+5% chance to preserve dig site map excavation actions
Skill Boosts
This table lists most sources of Archaeology-specific modifier boosts. For a list of boosts that apply to all skills, see the Skill Boosts page. This list does not contain boosts provided from Mastery rewards.
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