Drone Survey Identifies Rock Art Sites in Australia

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—According to a statement released by the University of Sydney, researchers from the University of Sydney, the Australian Museum, and the Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation employed drones equipped with lidar scanning equipment to survey the difficult terrain of eastern Australia’s Blue Mountains. The study was conducted as part of the Gulamada Project, which works to combine scientific knowledge with the cultural knowledge of the First Nations. “This work highlights the importance of listening, learning, and working together,” said Wayne Brennan of the University of Sydney. The lidar survey confirmed the locations of six registered rock art shelters, and found three additional shelters containing rock art and artifacts. These sites were then confirmed in person by Amy Mosig Way of the University of Sydney and her colleagues. The use of drones also provided more accurate coordinates for the sites in the Aboriginal Heritage Information Management System. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Remote Sensing. For more on Australian rock art, go to “Letter from Australia: Where the World Was Born.”