In an effort to better understand migration patterns and social interactions, archaeologists are currently searching Western New Mexico with lidar-equipped drones for the remains of ancient pueblos.

Data collected from drone-based lidar defines several rooms of an ancient pueblo, as well as a depression that researchers believe would have marked the location of a kiva inside.

"So what we're doing is mounting one of these lidar pods to a drone, flying it in a systematic way over the landscape, sending down a cone of laser images and measuring the bounce back of that light," explained Jeff Ferguson, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri.

The acronym "Lidar" stands for "light detection and ranging." Researchers are now able to observe things they couldn't before thanks to the data, which is then combined into a highly detailed rainbow-colored image that depicts the impressions of the ground where that light hit.

Ferguson claimed that due to the challenging topographical landscape, this area has historically received insufficient attention.

A top-down view of the newly surveyed pueblo thought to be built by immigrants in the 13th century.

It's about preserving the past, according to Ferguson. We could not even know what questions to ask about the past that might be significant if we aren't diligent.

The team recently conducted a reconnaissance of a sizable pueblo that was probably constructed in the late 13th century by immigrants from the Four Corners region.

They are working with another hands-off technology in addition to lidar that analyzes the chemical makeup of obsidian objects to determine their origin.