News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave.

Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by datameta on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @10:28AM (#37481864)
What conditions, if anything, can stave off decomposition in damp earth?

> “A few weeks or months after death, the body was still ‘fresh,’” Dr. Skóra said.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by throwaway290 on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @10:58AM (#37482291)
Life is probably one
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by adolph on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @11:51AM (#37483108)
Yes, if one considers individual cells as having somewhat independent life from the human body as a whole, then probably many cells could continue to "live" if kept safe from various microbial varmints.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_immortality

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by speed_spread on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @11:02AM (#37482354)
Lack of oxygen. Anaerobic conditions exist in peat, which also happens to be quite damp.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by shever73 on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @11:11AM (#37482482)
Anaerobic conditions preserve the body. After a while, the damp would have contributed to the formation of adipocere.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by civilitty on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @12:49PM (#37484054)
> adipocere

That's the first new NSFL search term I've run across in years.

Bravo, sir!

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by yetanotherloser on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @01:59PM (#37484991)
Not Safe For... Luncheon?

If that is your initialism then... bravo.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by queuebert on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @02:17PM (#37485212)
Not Safe for Life is the usual definition
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by QuercusMax on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @03:47PM (#37486969)
Appears to mean "fat wax" in Latin.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by 082349872349872 on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @12:14PM (#37483514)
see https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300164817/vampires-buria...
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by jaclaz on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @12:57PM (#37484195)
Basically, clay or any other condition/material that insulates the body from oxigen (ground burials or sealed tombs).

I wouldn't dare to say that weeks or month after death a corpse can still be "fresh", but in some places when/if you open a buried coffin after 5 years or so it is not rare that there has been not enough decomposition to allow the transfer of the body to an ossuary.

There are "aerated" tombs devised to accelerate the decomposition:

https://www.mdpi.com/2673-6756/2/3/37

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by cm2187 on Tuesday September 12, 2023 @04:14PM (#37487520)
On the opposite side I remember that researchers were (cautiously) harvesting the original strain of the spanish flu and performing a modern autopsy on its victims by opening lead coffins which preserved well enough the body after a century.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Undying Dread: A 400-Year-Old Corpse, Locked to Its Grave by jaclaz on Wednesday September 13, 2023 @03:53AM (#37493543)
I think you are referring to Sir Mark Sykes (BBC made a documentary on that a few years ago):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Sykes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Sykes#Exhumation_for_biol...

but it seems like the attempt was not successful, the lead coffin was broken and the body was not as well preserved as it was expected.

[ Parent | on HN ]