| Author | Message | ||
     Mary Hester |
Thanks Ed. I have heard of someone digging up a person to get fingerprints that have been dead for 2 or 3 years. Just wondering if they have been embalmed how long will they last? | ||
| Ed German |
They will remain relatively legible until the skin decomposes. That amount of time will vary greatly depending on the environment. Identifiable fingerprints have been photographed on bodies recovered from bogs or ice fields thousands of years after death. Burial preservation can preserve the skin for thousands of years (as photographed on mummies). Without mummification or embalming, putrefaction in hot and humid weather and also insects and/or vermin can destroy the friction skin of the hands and feet within days after death. --Ed German | ||
| Mary Hester |
How long are the fingerprints still good on a person that has died? |
