diff --git a/src/world/chunk.rs b/src/world/chunk.rs
index 10efc6a..a9a5c6b 100644
--- a/src/world/chunk.rs
+++ b/src/world/chunk.rs
@@ -24,14 +24,14 @@ pub enum Chunk<'a> {
 	/// block IDs
 	V1_13 {
 		section_map: BTreeMap<SectionY, (SectionV1_13<'a>, BlockLight<'a>)>,
-		biomes: &'a de::BiomesV0,
+		biomes: BiomesV0<'a>,
 	},
 	/// Original pre-1.13 chunk
 	///
 	/// The original chunk format with fixed 8-bit numeric block IDs
 	V0 {
 		section_map: BTreeMap<SectionY, (SectionV0<'a>, BlockLight<'a>)>,
-		biomes: &'a de::BiomesV0,
+		biomes: BiomesV0<'a>,
 	},
 	/// Unpopulated chunk without any block data
 	Empty,
@@ -158,8 +158,7 @@ impl<'a> Chunk<'a> {
 			}
 		}
 
-		// TODO Check biomes length
-		let biomes = level.biomes.as_ref().context("Invalid biome data");
+		let biomes = BiomesV0::new(level.biomes.as_ref());
 
 		Ok(
 			match (section_map_v1_13.is_empty(), section_map_v0.is_empty()) {
diff --git a/src/world/section.rs b/src/world/section.rs
index d3c590a..1aa8b7f 100644
--- a/src/world/section.rs
+++ b/src/world/section.rs
@@ -202,6 +202,36 @@ impl<'a> BiomesV18<'a> {
 	}
 }
 
+/// Pre-v1.18 section biome data
+///
+/// There are a 3 formats for biome data that were used in
+/// different pre-v1.18 Minecraft versions
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub enum BiomesV0<'a> {
+	IntArrayV15(&'a fastnbt::IntArray),
+	IntArrayV0(&'a fastnbt::IntArray),
+	ByteArray(&'a fastnbt::ByteArray),
+}
+
+impl<'a> BiomesV0<'a> {
+	/// Constructs a new [BiomesV0] from deserialized data structures
+	pub fn new(biomes: Option<&'a de::BiomesV0>) -> Result<Self> {
+		const N: usize = BLOCKS_PER_CHUNK;
+		const MAXY: usize = 256;
+		const BN: usize = N >> 2;
+		const BMAXY: usize = MAXY >> 2;
+
+		Ok(match biomes {
+			Some(de::BiomesV0::IntArray(data)) if data.len() == BN * BN * BMAXY => {
+				BiomesV0::IntArrayV15(data)
+			}
+			Some(de::BiomesV0::IntArray(data)) if data.len() == N * N => BiomesV0::IntArrayV0(data),
+			Some(de::BiomesV0::ByteArray(data)) if data.len() == N * N => BiomesV0::ByteArray(data),
+			_ => bail!("Invalid biome data"),
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
 pub struct BlockLight<'a>(Option<&'a [i8]>);