IT HAS been dubbed one of the greatest archaeological innovations of the past 50 years.

A revolutionary new technique known as Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) enables experts to fire harmless lasers from light aircraft to compile a comprehensive 3D map of the landscape below. 

The New Forest has become the first national park in the country to have its entire terrain mapped by LiDAR.

More than 3,000 archaeological sites in the district have been identified using the hi-tech system, including Bronze Age burial mounds near Burley, a fortified Iron Age enclosure near Brockenhurst and First World War training trenches on the edge of Lyndhurst.

Now LiDAR has been nominated for one of the annual awards presented by Current Archaeology magazine, with the Forest scheme being hailed as the best example.

Unlike conventional aerial photography LiDAR allows archaeologists to see beneath trees and shrubs and pinpoint previously unknown relics of the distant past.

The project is being used to record and protect thousands of sites, including significant finds such as prehistoric agricultural systems, an Iron Age hill fort and a Second World War bombing range at Ashley Walk, near Godshill. 

Funding is being provided by the New Forest Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Scheme, a 10-year agreement with Natural England that is worth almost £20 million.

As reported in the Daily Echo, the scheme is run by the New Forest Verderers in partnership with the Forestry Commission and the National Park Authority (NPA).

LiDAR has been used to map 92,000 hectares - an area the size of 125,000 football pitches.

Lawrence Shaw, the NPA's heritage mapping and data officer said: "The creation of the New Forest in 1079 produced a unique situation where archaeological sites have been almost frozen in time, mostly free from pressures such as intensive modern farming techniques and urban development.

"As a result, LiDAR has enabled us to find fantastically well-preserved sites that have been undisturbed for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

"We have been able to peel back the layers of the New Forest’s history and see how it has been shaped by human activity from the Bronze Age all the way through to the Second World War."

The aerial mapping has already been completed but sites unearthed by the technique are still being examined at ground level. 

Mr Shaw added: "We are now seven years into a ten-year scheme. We are still discovering and learning a huge amount while also ensuring these sites are preserved for years to come."

The winners of the awards will be decided by the public.

To vote for LiDAR and the New Forest heritage mapping project go online and visit archaeology.co.uk/vote.