LiDAR-Assisted Survey Locates Unregistered Rock Shelters in the Blue Mountains, Australia

Abstract

Rock shelters are important cultural and archaeological sites in Australia, often containing evidence of Aboriginal occupation and symbolic expression. While rock shelters have been investigated across Australia, locating them in rugged environments through pedestrian surveys remains challenging. This research contributes a methodology which integrates remote sensing, GIS analyses, and archaeological survey to locate rock shelters in the Blue Mountains. We produced models in ArcGIS Pro that analyse high-resolution, UAV-based LiDAR datasets and publicly available, low-resolution, aircraft-based LiDAR datasets from the New South Wales government. Our models yield locations of potential rock shelters, which can be visually evaluated in 3D LiDAR point clouds and ground-truthed through archaeological survey. Ground-truthing confirmed the successful detection of six known rock shelters on UAV and NSW LiDAR datasets, producing more accurate coordinates than the ones listed in online databases. Significantly, we identified three previously unregistered rock shelters that preserve rock art and lithics. These promising results indicate capacity to improve the spatial accuracy of legacy site records and locate unregistered archaeological rock shelters within, and potentially beyond, Australia. Our methodology promotes targeted and efficient survey of rock shelters that can produce regional datasets benefitting local communities, archaeology, and cultural heritage management.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Remote Sensing, 2026 · DOI ↗