Cobblestone, like most of Minecraft’s blocks, exists in the real world too – though it’s not as common there. You’ll most often find it on old parts of towns and cities, where for centuries it was used to make roads. Cobblestones have a lot of advantages over other road materials – they don’t get dusty in dry weather, or muddy in wet weather. They don’t allow ruts to form. They offer good traction, and make a lot of noise when wheels and horses pass over them. That last one might not sound like an advantage, but in the fogs of Victorian London the clatter of cobblestones helped many a pedestrian avoid getting run over an oncoming carriage. As a Brit myself, without cobblestone, one of my ancestors could’ve been carriage-whacked and I would never have been born. Which (more importantly) means there would have been no Block of the Week. Blimey! Thanks, cobblestone!
Normally cobblestones are set in sand or mortar by humans, but it’s possible for them to form naturally too – in which case they’re usually called “conglomerate”. Conglomerate forms when a collection of rocks settle in one place, but are then surrounded by sand, silt, clay or other finer materials, which harden over time into rock of their own.
Wannabe martian travellers will be pleased to hear that we’ve even found conglomerate on Mars, in what researchers believe is an ancient streambed. So when we eventually, inevitably ruin the Earth, don’t panic – you’ll be able to put all those cobblestone building skills you’ve been developing in Minecraft to use on the Red Planet instead. Good luck!
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