Artifacts
Artifacts are items that can be donated to the Museum or sold for a small profit. Donating to the Museum will yield rewards when donation milestones are reached, or when specific artifacts are donated. Each artifact may only be donated once.
Artifacts have little use other than donating them to the museum. The Dwarf Scrolls, Dwarvish Helm, and Dwarf Gadget may be gifted to the Dwarf as liked gifts, the Ancient Seed may be crafted into a plantable Ancient Seeds pack, and the Dinosaur Egg may be used to hatch a Dinosaur or turned into Mayonnaise.
Artifacts can be acquired in the following ways:
- Using the Hoe on an Artifact Spot. Different parts of the map will produce different artifacts. Artifact Spots are much more common in winter.
- Using the Hoe on dirt in The Mines and the Skull Cavern.
- Killing Monsters.
- Breaking open Artifact Troves.
- Fishing for treasure chests.
Donating the following artifacts grant unique rewards:
- Donating an Ancient Seed returns an Ancient Seed crafting recipe and 1 Ancient Seed pack, which can then be planted to harvest Ancient Fruit.
- Donating all four Dwarf Scrolls unlocks the Dwarvish Translation Guide, allowing the ability to speak to the Dwarf merchant in the Mines.
- Donating the Ancient Drum rewards the player with a Drum Block.
- Donating the Bone Flute rewards the player with a Flute Block.
- Donating the Chicken Statue rewards the player with a Chicken Statue furniture item.
- Donating the prehistoric bone pieces rewards the player with the Sloth Skeleton furniture pieces.
- Donating the Rare Disc rewards the player with the 'Burnt Offering' painting.
Artifacts
Note that the Quarry is considered part of The Mountain when digging up Artifact Spots. For Fishing Treasure Chests, the artifact has a higher chance of appearing if all 20 Lost Books have been found.
For items that say >1% or >3% or >5%, there is a base chance of 1% or 3% or 5% of finding them based on the data in ObjectInformation.xnb. The "extra" % chance comes from the secondary search for a valid item in Locations.xnb, for which a valid % would be difficult to calculate.
| Image | Name | Description | Price | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Dwarf Scroll I | A yellowed scroll of parchment filled with dwarven script. This one's tied with a red bow. |  1g
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Dwarf Scroll II | A yellowed scroll of parchment filled with dwarven script. This one's tied with a green ribbon. | 1g
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Dwarf Scroll III | A yellowed scroll of parchment filled with dwarven script. This one's tied with a blue rope. | 1g
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Dwarf Scroll IV | A yellowed scroll of parchment filled with dwarven script. This one's tied with a golden chain. | 1g
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Chipped Amphora | An ancient vessel made of ceramic material. Used to transport both dry and wet goods. | 40g
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Arrowhead | A crudely fashioned point used for hunting. | 40g
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Ancient Doll | An ancient doll covered in grime. This doll may have been used as a toy, a decoration, or a prop in some kind of ritual. | 60g
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Elvish Jewelry | Dirty but still beautiful. On the side is a flowing script thought by some to be the ancient language of the elves. No Elvish bones have ever been found. | 200g
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Chewing Stick | Ancient people chewed on these to keep their teeth clean. | 50g
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Ornamental Fan | This exquisite fan most likely belonged to a noblewoman. Historians believe that the valley was a popular sixth-era vacation spot for the wealthy. | 300g
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Dinosaur Egg | A giant dino egg... The entire shell is still intact! | 350g
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Rare Disc | A heavy black disc studded with peculiar red stones. When you hold it, you're overwhelmed with a feeling of dread. | 300g
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Ancient Sword | It's the remains of an ancient sword. Most of the blade has turned to rust, but the hilt is very finely crafted. | 100g
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Rusty Spoon | A plain old spoon, probably ten years old. Not very interesting. | 25g
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Rusty Spur | An old spur that was once attached to a cowboy's boot. People must have been raising animals in this area for many generations. | 25g
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Rusty Cog | A well preserved cog that must have been part of some ancient machine. This could be dwarven technology. | 25g
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Chicken Statue | It's a statue of a chicken on a bronze base. The ancient people of this area must have been very fond of chickens. | 50g
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Ancient Seed | It's a dry old seed from some ancient plant. By all appearances it's long since dead... | 5g
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Prehistoric Tool | Some kind of gnarly old digging tool. | 50g
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Dried Starfish | A starfish from the primordial ocean. It's an unusually pristine specimen! | 40g
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Anchor | It may have belonged to ancient pirates. | 100g
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Glass Shards | A mixture of glass shards smoothed by centuries of ocean surf. These could have belonged to an ancient mosaic or necklace. | 20g
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Bone Flute | It's a prehistoric wind instrument carved from an animal's bone. It produces an eerie tone. | 100g
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Prehistoric Handaxe | One of the earliest tools employed by humans. This "crude" tool was created by striking one rock with another to form a sharp edge. | 50g
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Dwarvish Helm | It's one of the helmets commonly worn by dwarves. The thick metal plating protects them from falling debris and stalactites. | 100g
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Dwarf Gadget | It's a piece of the advanced technology once known to the dwarves. It's still glowing and humming, but you're unable to understand how it works. | 200g
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Ancient Drum | It's a drum made from wood and animal skin. It has a low, reverberating tone. | 100g
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Golden Mask | A creepy golden mask probably used in an ancient magic ritual. A socket in the forehead contains a large purple gemstone. | 500g
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Golden Relic | It's a golden slab with hieroglyphs and pictures emblazoned onto the front. | 250g
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Strange Doll | ??? | 1,000g
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Strange Doll | ??? | 1,000g
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Prehistoric Scapula | Commonly known as a "shoulder blade"... It's unclear what species it belonged to. | 100g
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Prehistoric Tibia | A thick and sturdy leg bone. | 100g
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Prehistoric Skull | This is definitely a mammalian skull. | 100g
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Skeletal Hand | It's a wonder all these ancient little pieces lasted so long. | 100g
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Prehistoric Rib | Little gouge marks on the side suggest that this rib was someone's dinner. | 100g
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Prehistoric Vertebra | A segment of some prehistoric creature's spine. | 100g
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Skeletal Tail | It's pretty short for a tail. | 100g
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Nautilus Fossil | This must've washed up ages ago from an ancient coral reef. | 80g
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Amphibian Fossil | The relatively short hind legs suggest some kind of primordial toad. | 150g
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Palm Fossil | Palm Fossils are relatively common, but this happens to be a particularly well-preserved specimen. | 100g
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Trilobite | A long extinct relative of the crab. | 50g
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Artifact Troves
Artifact Troves are artifact containers which can be purchased from the Desert Trader for 5 Omni Geodes. They also have a chance to drop from Haunted Skulls.
They must be processed at the Blacksmith to obtain the artifacts inside. Clint charges 25g to process each Artifact Trove.
Like with geodes, The Blacksmith is unavailable for processing Artifact Troves during tool upgrades.
| Image | Name | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
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Artifact Trove | A blacksmith can open this for you. These troves often contain ancient relics and curiosities. |
Collection
Entries are added upon finding the artifact. The artifact does not need to be donated to the Museum or shipped via the shipping box to count towards the collection.
Note that artifacts found in Fishing Treasure Chests or obtained by tilling soil in the mines may not appear as found on the collections tab. Dragging the artifact outside the inventory window and allowing it to be taken back into inventory may correct this. Holding the artifact in inventory overnight may also correct this.
Note also that artifacts' descriptions appear on the collections tab as soon as they are found, even while the inventory description says "Gunther can tell you more about this if you donate it to the museum."
External Links
Users with access to their saved game files may find the "Stardew Valley Helpers" website useful for predicting where artifact spots will appear and what they will contain. The site is located at: https://stardew.djomp.co.uk/