this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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Science Memes

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submitted 6 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 24 points 6 months ago (2 children)

How long would a pickled body stay identifiable?

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 54 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Good question. Will ask my boss.

I've met this one, well pressed my face against his glass for a good hour or two. He's from 300 BC or so. He still has his eyelashes. Even this picture doesn't do the preservation justice. It looks like he fell asleep, save the rope on his neck.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 28 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Wow, what the heck this looks better preserved than most mummies i ever saw.

Was this a natural accidental pickle process or an intentional practice?

I want to be pickled after death now.

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 29 points 6 months ago

Natural, he was possibly sacrificed, maybe murdered. Either way, an unpleasant time.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollund_Man

This is a great read, don't be intimidated. It's by one of the Time Team guys.

http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/56693117/Chapman_et_al_Towards_an_archeaology_of_pain_Oxford_Journal_of_Archeaology_2019.pdf

[–] Taako_Tuesday@lemmy.ca 15 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I'm sure it was accidental at first, but eventually they found out bogs were great at preserving things. There are plenty of records of people putting food in bogs to preserve them.

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Didn't someone find perfectly good butter in a bog from a few hundred years ago?

[–] drdiddlybadger@pawb.social 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Would you eat toast that had been buttered with the bog butter?

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Honestly, depends on the smell. But I'd probably try a bite

[–] Oszilloraptor@feddit.de 4 points 6 months ago

I'd probably take a bite a day after they took a bite

[–] AThing4String@sh.itjust.works 14 points 6 months ago

I was reading the wiki for Tollund man yesterday, and I believe they actually took a fingerprint from him.

That's pretty identifiable, I think

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 4 points 6 months ago

Having thought a little more, the body would likely stay pickled in perpetuity as long as conditions are stable. I do not know what these thresholds are for bodies, though.