This research—led by a team of archaeologists and Traditional Custodians—and published today in Nature Human Behaviour  has revealed that people were living in the high country 20,000 years ago, right in the middle of the Last Glacial Maximum, the coldest period of the Ice Age. That makes Dargan Shelter the earliest known high-elevation Ice Age site in Australia. 

Not only is it the highest Pleistocene site ever found on the continent, but it also challenges long-standing assumptions about how people moved across this ancient land. 

A Home in the Heights

Dargan Shelter is a large rock shelter on Dharug Country, near Lithgow, at 1,073 metres above sea level. It lies along one of the few natural pathways through the rugged Blue Mountains, which would have connected inland and coastal areas. Today, many Aboriginal groups—including the Wiradjuri, Dharug, Gundungara, Tharawal, Darkinjung and others—have strong cultural connections to this region.

The site is more than just a dry cave. It contains faint rock art, including a small, child-sized hand stencil and was likely a family space of high cultural and spiritual importance. To Traditional Custodians, Dargan remains a powerful place—one that holds deep ancestral knowledge.

Digging into the Past

The team excavated over two metres of sandy sediment and uncovered a remarkable record of life going back tens of thousands of years. They found layers of hearths, ash, charcoal, and 693 stone tools, including some that came from faraway places. Some of the deepest artefacts were found alongside a fireplace dated to 21,700 - 19,990 years ago, firmly placing people in the high Blue Mountains during the coldest part of the Ice Age.

In the upper mountains at that time, temperatures were around 8°C colder than today, trees were almost entirely absent, and snow and ice covered the landscape in the colder months. Yet people returned to the site again and again. Some of the densest occupation occurred between 18,000 and 16,000 years ago, with hearths and stone-working debris showing that this was not a brief visit, but part of a pattern of repeated use.

Stone Tools Show Long Journeys

Most of the stone tools found at Dargan were made from local materials like quartz and claystone. But researchers also discovered some fascinating surprises. Some flakes were traced to Jenolan, 50 km to the south-west, while others, including a hammerstone (Fig. 3) came from as far as the Hunter region, 150 km to the north. This shows that people moved across vast distances through the mountains, likely following seasonal routes or participating in trade and ceremony.

One particularly interesting find was a grinding stone dating to around 13,400 years ago, which appears to have been used to shape wooden or bone tools such as needles, awls, bone points and nose points. Another, a basalt anvil, was used to crack nuts or seeds. These discoveries show a rich and complex life in a challenging landscape.

Not Just a Stop on the Way

The idea that mountains were barriers, or at best temporary stopovers on the way from one place to another, is now being questioned. The evidence from Dargan Shelter suggests that the Blue Mountains were not simply crossed—they were occupied.

The findings echo broader global trends. Around the world, from the Andes to the Tibetan Plateau, archaeologists are now finding earlier-than-expected human presence in cold, high-altitude environments. Dargan Shelter shows that Australia, too, was part of this story.

Changing the Map of the Past

Before Dargan, the oldest secure date for a high-altitude site in Australia came from a lower elevation Blue Mountains site – King’s Table. This new research pushes the timeline back by at least 5,000 years.

This doesn’t mean that people first arrived in Australia’s southeast at this time—people were in the adjacent Sydney plains by at least 36,000 years ago. But it does mean that people adapted to some of the continent’s harshest environments much earlier than we thought. Far from being an empty, frozen wilderness, the high country was part of a complex web of movement, connection and cultural life.

Cultural Knowledge, Scientific Collaboration

Importantly, this project wasn’t just about archaeology. It was a collaboration between researchers and First Nations custodians, who helped guide the investigation and interpret the site. Their knowledge is critical to understanding how people lived and moved in this landscape.

For example, the stone artefacts found at Dargan aren’t just objects—they’re links to a broader cultural and ancestral world. The travel routes suggested by the stone sources may reflect pathways used for ceremony, trade, or seasonal gathering, echoing traditions that continue to this day.

Why This Matters Today

Dargan Shelter helps us understand the adaptability and complexity of Australia’s First Peoples. It invites us to rethink what we know about the past. Even the coldest and most unforgiving mountains were homelands, gathering places and spiritual landscapes.

As Traditional Custodians continue conversations about land, history, and culture, research like this shows how archaeology and Indigenous knowledge can work hand in hand to deepen our understanding of the ancient human story in Australia—and the enduring presence of First Peoples in every corner of this land.