Stardew Valley Artifacts Guide

• About
• Latest Posts

Ella Walsh

Ella is SdewHQ's resident virtual farming expert, and whether she is farming, fishing, mining, or decorating her farmhouse, you can rest assured that she is loving every second. Outside of the Stardew universe Ella is a keen gamer and particularly loves titles like Horizon Zero Dawn, The Outer Worlds, and her childhood favorite, Monster's Inc Scare Island. Ella is also a gaming UX researcher, has a keen interest in acccessibity within games and strives to fill up her PS trophy cabinet upon every gaming session.

Latest posts by Ella Walsh (see all)

• Artisan vs Agriculturist Stardew Valley - April 12, 2023
• Stardew Valley Owl Statue Guide - April 12, 2023
• Stardew Valley How to Win Egg Hunt - April 12, 2023

Stardew Valley is known for its insane levels of detail and all the layers of the game that there are available! It is one of those games where no matter how long you play, there are always some nice and fun surprises to be had. It is also super relaxing to have your own farm and get to make it look and run whatever way you want!

Want to spend hours on complex crop layouts with sprinklers to take away that pesky watering that seems to take so much of your time? Sure! Want to spend days in the Mines searching for goods which you then display in the Shed? Why not! Want to date all the town members and cause a scene? You can do that too!

The possibilities are really endless; there are lots of ways that you can contribute to the charming world of Pelican Town; you can help others complete their quests, you can show kindness to all the members of the town, or you can even donate to the local library to help the development of Pelican Town!

You can donate Artifacts to the Museum once you find them, which is a worthy pursuit and very time-consuming! You will need some tools in order to find all the artifacts that you will need, and you also need a whole load of patience! Artifacts are not easy to find and not guaranteed, although they are worth the investment as you can get some really cool rewards as a result of donating to the Museum, so be prepared to see a whole lot more of Gunther.

Let’s continue with this Stardew Valley artifacts guide.

How to Find Artifacts

There are multiple ways that you can find Artifacts that can then be donated to the Museum! It is a really fun way to spend your time and to break up your day if you start to get bored of the usual routines like fishing and mining.

Bring Your Hoe on Adventures

The main way that you can find Artifacts is by using your hoe around Pelican Town. When you are out exploring on your daily adventures, you might find some very small and easily missed worms in the ground!

Due to the games art style, these can be easily missed, so you should always keep a close eye; you will see small worms and a wiggling movement in the ground; when you do, all you need to do now is hit the worms with your hoe (so keep this with you at all times when you leave your farm) and whatever you uncover will automatically go into your backpack for donation to the Museum!

Bring Your Hoe to the Mines and Cavern

You can use the hoe in the Mines and in the Cavern in the same way that you use the mine on Artifact spots where the worms are. If you bring your hoe to the Mines and the Skull Cavern, you can use it to randomly hit tiles of dirt and see what comes up! (literally) This requires a bit more patience and time as there is no guarantee, and you could spend a lot of energy without ever finding anything.

Start Killing Things

For this method, you need to bring your weapons with you, like swords and daggers! The good news is that there is no shortage of monsters that you can kill and see what you can get back from it! You can find monsters in the Mines, the Volcano Dungeon, and the Mutant Bug Lair. There are so many monsters that you can kill that the list is endless, but common monsters that you will encounter (in the mines at least) are slime, crabs, bats, grubs, and bugs!

Artifact Troves

You can also get artifacts from artifacts troves; these are like Omni geodes, but for artifacts. I know it sounds exciting and appealing, so how do you get an Artifact trove? You first need to get 5 Omni geodes that you can get from the mines; once you have five of these, you can take them to the Desert Trader, who will give you one artifact trove in return.

The artifact trove then needs to be taken to the blacksmith so that they can crack it open for you, although it costs 25g. You can also get artifacts in the same way by visiting Ginger Island and going to the Dig Site. This Dig Site also has artifact spots with worms on it, the same way that the area of Pelican Town has.

You can also find artifact troves from supply crates which may wash up, but only if you already have a beach farm. The other requirements for these supply crates to show up on your farm are that you also need to have already upgraded your house twice (which can be quite the investment in terms of both time and money). When these do show up, you can open them, and they may have some artifact troves inside.

Fishing for Treasure

If you love to fish, you may already know this! While you are fishing, and once you have a fish on your line and you are fighting to catch it, a treasure chest may appear on your fishing bar; this is super exciting! You need to move your own bar in the same way you do in order to catch the fish and hold it over the chest to unlock it. There is no guarantee that inside every treasure chest, there will be an artifact, so best of luck!

Breaking open Bone Nodes

If you are familiar with the Mines, you probably have often seen copper or iron nodes; well, bone nodes also exist! These, however, can only be found on Ginger Island on the Dig Site; you can break these down with the pickaxe like you do for mining, and you can find some artifacts inside!

How to Donate Artifacts

So you have done an awful lot of exploring, and now you have some exciting artifacts, and you want to donate them to the Museum so that you can get some cool rewards.

When you receive a new artifact, when you select it within your inventory, it will say, ”Gunther can tell you more about this if you donate it to the museum” What you have to do then is to bring it with you to the Museum and approach the desk and select ”make a donation” and then it will highlight the items which can be donated to the Museum which you then select and place on the available tiles for display in the Museum.

Rewards are given sporadically, and if your particular donation has triggered a reward, a sound and visual effect will occur that shows you have a reward. You then need to approach the desk at the Museum again and select collect rewards and then select the individual reward so that you can collect it and move it to your inventory.

So it is all really quite simple!

What Artifacts Can I Find?

There are actually a lot of different artifacts that you can find in a variety of places and in a variety of ways! In fact, there are 42 artifacts in total for you to discover and for you to donate to the Museum! Each artifact can be found in different locations, and the 42 artifacts include;

• Dwarf Scroll 1; Collecting all four will allow you to understand the dwarves. You can find these in the ground in the mines and by defeating monsters.
• Dwarf Scroll 2; This can be found by defeating ghosts, frost bats, dust sprites, and blue slime. This can also be found on the floor in the mines.
• Dwarf Scroll 3; This can be found by defeating monsters.
• Dwarf Scroll 4; This can also be found by defeating monsters and on the floor in the mines.
• Ancient Seed; Once you donate this to the Museum, you get the recipe for ancient seed, which can then be used to make more seeds to grow ancient fruit. You can find this in artifact troves, forests, mountains, fishing chests, and by defeating monsters.

• Ancient Sword; You can find this in artifact troves, forests, fishing chests, and mountains.
• Ancient Doll; This is used in the remixed children bundle in the community center and can be found in artifact troves, the mountains, Forest, bus stops, town, and in fishing chests.
• Prehistoric Tibia; You have the best chance of finding by defeating pepper rex or exploring the railroad, the Forest, and breaking bone nodes.
• Chewing Stick; This can be found in mountains, forests, artifact troves, defeating duggys, the town, and fishing chests.
• Dried Starfish; This can be found unsurprisingly at the beach, artifact trove, or fishing chests.
• Bone Flute; This is a flute made of animal bone that can be found in the artifact trove, forests, mountains, towns, or fishing chests.
• Rusty Spur; This comes from a cowboy’s boot and can be found on the farm, on artifact troves, on the ground in mines, and in fishing chests.
• Dwarf Gadget; This is a piece of equipment once used by the dwarves; this can be used to make the very exciting farm computer! You will also need 1x battery pack and 10x refined quartz, though. This is most likely to be found in magma geodes but can also be located in the artifact trove, Omni geode, and mine floors.
• Dwarvish Helm; This is a fancy and quite cute hat worn by dwarves which can be found in geodes and Omni geodes, artifact troves, and the floors of the mines.
• Chicken Statue; This can be found on your farm, in artifact troves, and in fishing chests.
• Chipped amphora; This can only be found in artifact troves and in the town.
• Nautilus Fossil; This is an ancient shell that can be found primarily in the fishing chest but also on the beach or in bone nodes. The fossil can also be used to make fertilizer or speed gro for your crops.
• Golden Relic; This can only be found in artifact troves or the Desert and has hieroglyphics on it.
• Prehistoric Rib; You can find this most often by defeating Pepper Rex in the Skull Cavern, but also in the town, the farm, and beach nodes.
• Skeletal Tail; This can be found in fishing chests, in the ground of mines, and in bone nodes. You can use the tail to make some speed gro or fertilizer if you put it through the bone mill.
• Trilobite; This is essentially an ancient fossil that apparently is like a crab! You can find this particular artifact in the Forest, most likely, but also on the beach, the mountains, and from breaking up bone nodes. You can also use the Trilobite in a Bone Mill in order to make speed gro or fertilizer.

• Prehistoric Tool; This can be found in artifact troves, the bus stop, forests, mountains, and fishing chests.
• Prehistoric Skull; You can find this in the mountains, from killing haunted skulls and bone nodes. This can also be used in order to make speed gro or fertilizer.
• Anchor; This can be found on the beach, in artifact troves, and in fishing chests.
• Golden Mask; This is a spooky style mask with a gem in it that alludes to magic rituals. It can be found only in the desert or artifact troves. It can be used in the sewing machine to make a golden mask hat!
• Rusty Spoon; This can be found in the town, artifact trove, fishing chest, and mine floors.
• Amphibian Fossil; The game description suggests that this is the fossil of some kind of animal that is similar to a toad. This is most likely to be found in the fishing chest but can also be found in bone nodes, the Forest, and the mountain. As this is also a fossil, it too can be used to make fertilizer and speed gro.
• Prehistoric Scapula; This can be found in the Forest, the town, by slaying skeletons or in bone nodes.
• Palm Fossil; This artifact can be found in the Desert most commonly, as well as on the beach, the Forest, and from bone nodes. This can also be used in the bone mill to create speed gro or fertilizer.
• Skeletal Hand; You can find this in the backwoods, from killing haunted skulls, bone nodes, and the beach. As with all other fossils, this can be used to make speed gro and fertilizer.
• Glass Shards; These can be found on the beach, in artifact troves, and in fishing chests.
• Prehistoric Vertebra; The most common way to get this is to defeat Pepper Rex in the Skull Cavern; there is a much much smaller chance of finding this in the town, the farm, or in bone nodes. This too can be used to make fertilizer and speed gro.
• Yellow Strange Doll; This is quite hard to find, and we don’t actually know anything about it, but it can be found on the farm, at a bus stop, in the town, at the mountain, in the Forest, on the beach, on the ground, and in fishing chests.
• Green Strange Doll; This can be found in a variety of places, including the farm, the bus stop, the Forest, the mountain, the beach, the ground, and fishing chests.

• Arrowheads; This can be found in artifact troves, the Forest, bus stops, and the mountains.
• Dinosaur Egg; These are really exciting as they can be incubated to hatch a dinosaur within 12 days. These can be found by defeating pepper rex, the mountains, fishing chests, and prehistoric floors in the Cavern.
• Elvish Jewellery; This is found in artifact troves, the Forest, and fishing chests.
• Rare Disc; This can be found in artifact troves, fishing chests, defeating bats, shadow brutes, spiders, and shadow shamans.
• Rusty Cog; This is rumored to be used by the dwarves and can be found in the mountain, artifact troves, the ground in mines, and fishing chests.
• Ancient Drum; This is most likely to be found in artifact troves or frozen, and Omni geodes but can also be found at the bus stop, the Forest, and the town.
• Prehistoric Hand axe; This can be found in the bus stop, Forest, mountain, and artifact troves.
• Ornamental Fan; This can be found in artifact troves, the beach, Forest, fishing chests, and the town.

What Are the Rewards for Donating Artifacts?

The rewards for donating artifacts vary. Ultimately the reward that you get depends on the items that you donate. Here are some of the rewards;

• If you donate the rare disc and the dwarf gadget along with any other nine items, you will receive a painting called ”Burnt Offering.”
• Donating the bone flute along with any two other artifacts will reward you with a flute block.
• Once you donate, all of the four dwarf scrolls provide you with a translation guide and allow you to understand the language of the dwarves.
• Donating the prehistoric bone will give you a sloth skeleton in return.
• Donating the ancient seed rewards you with the recipe for ancient seeds and a pack of ancient seeds which you can use to plant on your farm and grow ancient fruit.
• Donating the ancient drum will reward you with a drum block as long as you have already donated another two artifacts.
• Donating the chicken statue alongside four other artifacts of any kind will reward you with a chicken statue furniture piece.

FAQs

Stardew Valley Artifacts Guide: Summary

As you can now see, there are a lot of exciting artifacts that you can find within the world of Stardew Valley, although some can be very tricky to find! Luckily there are lots of different ways to find the artifacts, and while it can seem monotonous, going to look for artifacts is a fun way to break up your day, especially if you are feeling drained from the usual farm activities such as fishing and foraging.

While there are multiple ways to find artifacts, you do not necessarily need to do all of them either! I have gotten really far just by using my hoe on artifact spots that I randomly find on my travels; just ensure that you always keep your home with you!

If you also want to be super-efficient, make sure to drop off anything that you don’t need in a storage box on your farm to allow for maximum capacity if you are on the hunt for some artifacts. Typically what I do is drop off things like my fishing rod, watering can, and any extras before I leave my farm for the day.

I personally would not use any of the artifacts to make any material like speed-gro and quality fertilizer as these can be made using other much easier-to-find items and not waste the artifacts that you worked so hard to find!