You’ve finally found it. After swimming through a soggy shipwreck or dodging Drowned in an underwater ruin, you’ve got that tattered piece of paper in your inventory. The Map. You open it, follow the little white dot, and eventually stand right on top of that big red X. Then you start digging. You dig a 5x5 hole. Nothing. You dig down to bedrock. Still nothing. Honestly, how to find buried treasure in Minecraft Bedrock shouldn't be this frustrating, but the game is notoriously picky about where it hides those chests. If you're tired of turning a beautiful beach into a cratered moonscape just for some iron ingots and a Heart of the Sea, you’re probably overthinking the search.
It’s all about the math and the way Bedrock handles "chunk" generation differently than Java Edition.
The Search for the Map
Before you can even worry about digging, you need the map. You aren't going to just stumble upon a buried treasure chest by wandering the shoreline—well, you could, but the odds are basically zero. You need to find a Shipwreck or an Underwater Ruin. Shipwrecks are your best bet. They spawn in various states of decay—some are fully upright, others are just a few planks of oak sticking out of the sand.
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Inside these wrecks, you’ll find up to three chests. The "Map Chest" is the one you’re after. It’s usually located in the lower section of the bow (the front) of the ship. In Underwater Ruins, the map is often tucked away in a chest buried under a layer of gravel or sand within the structure itself. Once you have that Buried Treasure Map, the real game begins. Look at the map. If the little white dot is small, you're far away. If it's a large circle, you're close.
Why You Can't Find the Chest on the X
Here is the thing about Bedrock Edition: the X is a liar. In the Java version of Minecraft, there’s a famous trick where you stand at a specific coordinate within a chunk (usually 9, 9) to find the chest every single time. Bedrock doesn't play by those rules.
When you’re looking at how to find buried treasure in Minecraft Bedrock, you have to understand that the chest is always located at the chunk coordinate 8, 8 relative to the chunk it’s in. But most players don't play with chunk borders turned on (and on console, you can’t even see them without third-party packs).
The "Center of the X" Myth
Most people walk until their player icon is perfectly centered under the red X. This is a mistake. The X is a 2D UI element layered over a 3D world. It represents an area, not a specific block. Because the map is low-resolution, that single pixel of red ink actually covers a fairly large area of sand or gravel.
Instead of trying to "center" yourself, try this:
Align your player icon so that only the very tip of your "nose" (the point of the white marker) is poking out from the bottom of the X.
Digging Strategies That Actually Work
Stop digging huge, deep holes. Buried treasure chests in Bedrock Edition almost always spawn under sand or gravel. They don't spawn under sandstone. They don't spawn under stone. If you've dug deep enough to hit solid rock, you've gone too far.
Usually, the chest is only 1 to 3 blocks beneath the surface. If you’re standing on the "sweet spot" and you’ve dug five blocks down into the sand and found nothing, move one block to the left.
- The Spiral Search: Start where you think the center is. Dig down three blocks. If nothing, move one block out and dig again, circling the original hole.
- The Strip Mine: If the beach is flat, just clear the top two layers of sand in a 4x4 area around the X.
- The Water Trick: If the chest is underwater (which happens a lot in Bedrock), use a door or a fence gate to create an air pocket so you don't drown while shoveling through the gravel.
What’s Actually Inside?
Is it even worth the effort? Usually, yeah. The loot tables for buried treasure are some of the most consistent in the game. You are guaranteed a Heart of the Sea. This is the only way to get this item, which you need to craft a Conduit (basically an underwater beacon that lets you breathe and see forever).
Beyond the Heart, you’re looking at a high probability of:
- Iron Ingots (tons of them)
- Gold Ingots
- Emeralds
- Cooked Salmon or Cod (don't ask why it's in a chest underground)
- Lead and Name Tags
- Diamonds (usually 1-2, but not guaranteed)
The iron alone makes this a great early-game strategy. If you spawn near a coast, finding a map can get you a full set of iron armor in about ten minutes without ever stepping foot in a cave.
Common Bedrock Glitches to Watch For
Sometimes, the game just breaks. It's Minecraft; it happens. In Bedrock Edition, there are rare instances where a chest might fail to generate if the X is located right on the border of two different biomes, or if a cave system generated "through" the treasure location.
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Also, keep in mind that "Buried Treasure" doesn't always mean "On a Beach." Sometimes the chest spawns on the ocean floor, covered by a few layers of gravel. If your map leads you into the middle of the ocean, bring some Potions of Water Breathing or a few stacks of sugar cane to make air pockets. The chest is there; it’s just soggy.
The Mathematical Shortcut (For the Tech-Savvy)
If you're truly desperate and the X is giving you a headache, you can use your coordinates. In Bedrock, the chest will always be at a specific spot within the 16x16 grid of a chunk.
To find the exact block:
- Open your coordinates.
- Look at your X and Z values.
- The chest is located where (Coordinate) mod 16 equals 8.
Basically, you want your X and Z coordinates to be numbers like 8, 24, 40, 56, 72, 88, and so on. If you find the X on the map and then move your character until your coordinates are both multiples of 8 (specifically the middle of the chunk), you will be standing directly on top of the chest almost 100% of the time.
Moving Forward with Your Loot
Once you've grabbed the Heart of the Sea and the iron, don't just toss the map. It won't update to show the chest is gone, so it's useless for finding new treasure, but it's a decent decorative item for a map wall.
To make the most of your find, your next step should be hunting for Nautilus Shells. You'll need eight of them to surround that Heart of the Sea at a crafting table. You can get these from fishing, or more reliably, by killing Drowned that are holding them. Once you have the Conduit, the ocean becomes your playground rather than a death trap.
Start by checking the shipwrecks in cold ocean biomes first; they seem to have a higher density of chests than the warm ocean variants. Grab a stone shovel, find a coast, and stop digging those 20-block-deep holes. The treasure is closer to the surface than you think.
Actionable Next Steps
- Locate a Shipwreck: Search cold or lukewarm ocean biomes for wooden structures sticking out of the water.
- Loot the Map Chest: Ignore the supply chests if you're in a rush; find the one in the bow of the ship.
- Navigate to the X: Align your player icon so the tip of the white arrow just barely touches the bottom-middle of the red X.
- Check Your Coordinates: For maximum precision, ensure your X and Z coordinates end in a value that, when divided by 16, leaves a remainder of 8.
- Clear the Surface: Dig only 3-4 blocks deep in a 3x3 radius around that coordinate. If it's not there, it’s likely one block over.