How Drone LiDAR Helps Find Hidden Indigenous Rock Shelters

By mapping the ground beneath dense tree cover, drone LiDAR can help researchers identify places to investigate on foot.

HistoryOctober 18, 20263 min readHow Sureno writes this

The short version

Drone LiDAR helped researchers locate three previously unregistered rock shelters in Australia's Blue Mountains; some contained red hand stencils and stone artefacts. ¹²
LiDAR uses laser measurements to build a detailed 3D map, helping researchers see the shape of the ground beneath dense tree cover. ²
The technology points researchers to possible sites, but the sources describe discoveries made through archaeological research, not an automated confirmation of every feature. ¹²
Researchers hope the method could help identify more sites, but the sources do not establish how many exist or how many will be found. ²

How can drones find rock shelters under thick forest?

A drone can carry LiDAR, short for light detection and ranging. It sends out laser pulses and measures their returns to map the landscape in three dimensions. The resulting model can show terrain features that are hard to see through dense vegetation from the ground. ²

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Blue Mountains project used drone LiDAR to make a detailed map of the terrain. Researchers can use that view to identify possible shelters and decide where closer archaeological work may be useful. ²

What did researchers find in the Blue Mountains?

Reports describe three previously unregistered Aboriginal rock shelters located in the Greater Blue Mountains, in New South Wales, Australia. Some of the shelters had red hand stencils and stone artefacts. ¹²

These are archaeological and cultural places, not simply landforms picked out by a machine. LiDAR helped reveal locations for researchers to examine, while the reported art and objects provide evidence of human presence at the shelters. ¹²

What does LiDAR show, and what does it not show?

LiDAR maps the shape of the ground; it does not, by itself, identify the meaning or age of a rock shelter or its art. The reports say some newly located shelters had red hand stencils and stone artefacts, but the supplied information does not give precise dates for those items. ¹²

The technology can help researchers look through the effects of tree cover in a terrain model. It should be understood as a way to guide archaeological investigation, not as a substitute for examining sites and interpreting evidence. ²

Could this method reveal many more Indigenous sites?

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that researchers see the three finds as a reason to investigate whether many more sites might be identified across the Greater Blue Mountains. The report presents the possibility of hundreds or thousands as a hope, not a confirmed count. ²

The sources provided do not show how many additional shelters have since been located, or how widely the method will work in other landscapes. Any broader estimate should therefore be treated as uncertain. ¹²

Why does finding these places matter?

Locating shelters can help bring attention to Indigenous cultural places that are difficult to find from the ground. The reported hand stencils and stone artefacts also show why these locations matter to archaeological research and to understanding Indigenous presence in the region. ¹²

The reports describe work in the Blue Mountains, but the supplied information does not explain how site details are managed or what protections apply. The discoveries should not be taken as permission to visit or disturb cultural sites.

What we don't know yet

The exact ages of the three shelters, their art and their artefacts are not given in the supplied reports.
It is not known from these sources how many additional sites will be identified.
The sources do not explain how site locations are protected or shared.

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Questions people ask

What is drone LiDAR archaeology?

It is archaeological survey work using a drone-mounted system that measures laser returns to create a 3D map of terrain. In the Blue Mountains project, that map helped researchers identify possible shelters beneath dense bush. ²

How many rock shelters did the drone survey find?

The reports describe three previously unregistered rock shelters in the Greater Blue Mountains. Some had red hand stencils and stone artefacts. ¹²

Can LiDAR see through trees?

LiDAR does not make trees disappear in the ordinary sense. Its measurements can be used to create a terrain view that reduces the effect of tree canopy and helps show the ground beneath it. ²

Where were the Indigenous rock shelters found?

They were reported in the Greater Blue Mountains of Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald says the discoveries came from a very small part of the World Heritage site. ²

Will drones find hundreds of Aboriginal sites?

Researchers hope the approach could help identify many more sites across the Blue Mountains, but that is not yet a confirmed total. The supplied reports document three newly located shelters and do not establish how many more will be found. ¹²

Sources

Drone LiDAR finds hidden rock shelters and rock art in Australia | Archaeology News Online Magazine — Archaeology News Online Magazine, 2026-10-17
How high-tech drones reveal ancient Blue Mountains Indigenous sites — The Sydney Morning Herald, 2026-10-13

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