How to get artifacts in Civilization 7

Artifacts play a crucial role in Civilization 7, especially if you are pursuing a cultural victory. These historical treasures provide benefits and contribute to your cultural legacy points, making them a valuable resource in the Modern age. To collect them, you must train explorers, locate excavation sites, and extract artifacts from ruins.

This guide will walk you through the entire process, from recruiting explorers and finding dig sites to displaying artifacts for maximum cultural impact.

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Collecting artifacts in Civilization 7: A step by step guide

Step 1: Unlock natural history civic

Museum in Civilization 7 (Image via 2K Games)

Explorers are the only unit in Civilization 7 that can excavate ruins. In order to recruit explorers you need to unlock the natural history civic in the civic tree.

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Step 2: Research artifacts

Next, build a university or museum and send your explorer there to use research artifacts. This action will reveal Exploration age artifact sites on the map.

To find Antiquity age artifacts, you must unlock the hegemony civic, which expands available dig sites. Keep in mind that universities and museums only reveal artifacts in their region, so you may need settlements or alliances on other continents to find more.

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Step 3: Locate dig sites

Explorers are required to find artifacts (Image via 2K Games)

To locate dig sites, open the minimap, select the continent lens, and look for excavation markers. Move an explorer to a dig site and select excavate artifact. This will take a few turns, but once complete, you will receive an artifact.

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Step 4: Display artifacts

Cultural victory in Civilization 7 (Image via 2K Games)

After collecting artifacts, place them in:

• Palaces

• Museums
• Wonders like hermitage and Palacio de Bellas Artes

Each displayed artifact gives plus four culture. You need 15 displayed artifacts to achieve a cultural victory.

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Other ways to get artifacts

Artifacts aren’t just found in ruins. You can also get them through narrative events, though some may reduce your cultural output. Another way is to become a suzerain of a City-State with the antiquarianism bonus, which lets you claim an artifact.

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Artifacts vs. relics

Displaying relics and artifacts (Image via 2K Games)

Both artifacts and relics contribute to cultural progress, but they are acquired in different ways. Relics come from the Exploration age and are obtained through missionaries spreading religion. These relics must be placed in religious buildings.

Artifacts, on the other hand, are found in the Modern age and require explorers to excavate them from dig sites. Once collected, they must be displayed in museums or universities to enhance cultural influence.

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Tips for collecting artifacts faster

Training multiple explorers increases your chances of securing artifacts before other civilizations. Museums and universities help reveal more dig sites, so having them in different regions expands your reach.

Other civilizations may try to claim artifacts first, so train multiple explorers to collect them faster. Since explorers have unlimited uses, they can keep searching as long as needed.

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To gather artifacts efficiently in Civilization 7, make sure to use the continent lens on the minimap, as it helps you easily locate dig sites across different territories.

Additionally, securing suzerain status over city-states that provide archaeology-related bonuses can give you an edge in collecting artifacts faster. These strategies will speed up your artifact collection and bring you closer to a cultural victory.

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Check out our other Civilization 7 guides:

• 5 must-have mods for Civilization 7
• How to use Migrants in Civilization 7
• How to build Factories in Civilization 7
• How to build Roads in Civilization 7
• How to build a Rail Network in Civilization 7