How long does it take for the clothes to decay once a dead body is skeltonized a!
Question:
How long does it take for the clothes to decay once a dead body is skeltonized and properly buried by today's
modern technology.?
Answers:
That wholly depends upon the type of fabric..
You have two differnt items in your question.. one is properly burried and the other is skeleonized.. One comes before the other so I am going to kind of merge the two parts.
Man made fabrics (Rayon, nylon, polyester, etc..) that are essentially plastics are not likely to decay within years as they are generaly broken down by wear and UV and there really isn't a lot of that going on 8 ft down.. There are certain microbes (bacteria, mold, fungus) that can do the job but I don't believe that they are found in the body so they would not arrive until the coffin was compromised underground. my guess is that is a slow process so they will be there long after the body has skeletonized
Naturals such as wool, cotton, Silk have a varying decay rate.. Since they are susceptible to mildew, mold and bacteria. You are in a vacuum sealed casket most of the time now adays so you will have anaerobic decomp.
This will not start until the rest of the body is fairly far in the process and the bacteria in the body can mix into the clothing
Silks go first fairly quickly. then Cotton.. The last would be your wools. Remember these are chemically treated and wools are hair. Hair can can remain in tact for I believe it is hundreds of years... They will not be worth digging up and wearing mind you ;-) but they will remain...
The silks and cottons will probably be 90+% gone by the time you reach a skeltal state.. The wools it's hard to say but they will probaly be 30% gone at skeletal state.
The ultimate key to the final decomp is if the casket gives way to allow moisture and or criters into the body chaimber.. Once that happens, the process will be much quicker.