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I know oceans and caves are relatively unexplored parts of Earth. Are there any land surfaces that are similarly unexplored?

jl6 6y ago
Depends what you mean by unexplored. Satellites have taken photographs of the whole surface, but I imagine there are still pockets of remote places where no human has set foot. Inaccessible mountain slopes, central Antarctica, the land under glaciers, central Sahara, deep jungle, far northern Canada and Russia. Or, more interestingly, modern cities may still hide secrets. For example, it’s well known that London is built on top of London. Digging anywhere typically uncovers archaeological evidence of past generations. But there are still some places which are off-limits to digging because they are under historic buildings. For example, St Paul‘s cathedral very likely has historical artefacts underneath it, but we will never know because you’d have to demolish St Paul’s first to get at them.
- SenHeng 6y ago
  My favourite is the discovery of a hidden room within the UK Parliament built in the 17th century, with eletricals from the 1950s that still worked. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51630630 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51630630
- the_cramer 6y ago
  Another possibility would be to use soundwaves, x-rays and other energetic wave forms to locate and map stuff under such buildings. I wonder how far the technology is in this area...
  - nitrogen 6y ago
    Ground-penetrating radar seems to be fairly well developed as well
- f_allwein 6y ago
  San Clemente church in Rome was built in the 11th century. It is built on top of an older (4th century) church, which again is on top of a Roman temple. You can climb down stairs to explore these. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Clemente_al_Laterano https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Clemente_al_Laterano
justin66 6y ago
There is plenty of interesting stuff still hiding under tree canopies. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/02/582664327/game-changer-maya-cities-unearthed-in-guatemala-forest-using-lasers https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/02/582664327...

jl6 6y ago

Depends what you mean by unexplored. Satellites have taken photographs of the whole surface, but I imagine there are still pockets of remote places where no human has set foot. Inaccessible mountain slopes, central Antarctica, the land under glaciers, central Sahara, deep jungle, far northern Canada and Russia. Or, more interestingly, modern cities may still hide secrets. For example, it’s well known that London is built on top of London. Digging anywhere typically uncovers archaeological evidence of past generations. But there are still some places which are off-limits to digging because they are under historic buildings. For example, St Paul‘s cathedral very likely has historical artefacts underneath it, but we will never know because you’d have to demolish St Paul’s first to get at them.

SenHeng 6y ago
My favourite is the discovery of a hidden room within the UK Parliament built in the 17th century, with eletricals from the 1950s that still worked. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51630630 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51630630
the_cramer 6y ago
Another possibility would be to use soundwaves, x-rays and other energetic wave forms to locate and map stuff under such buildings. I wonder how far the technology is in this area...
- nitrogen 6y ago
  Ground-penetrating radar seems to be fairly well developed as well
f_allwein 6y ago
San Clemente church in Rome was built in the 11th century. It is built on top of an older (4th century) church, which again is on top of a Roman temple. You can climb down stairs to explore these. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Clemente_al_Laterano https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Clemente_al_Laterano

justin66 6y ago

There is plenty of interesting stuff still hiding under tree canopies. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/02/582664327/game-changer-maya-cities-unearthed-in-guatemala-forest-using-lasers https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/02/582664327...