Exactly, how long does an embalmed body remain "preserved" ?

Question

I realize this is a rather macabre topic, but it's something I've always wondered about...

Answer 1

It can range from a matter of months to a matter of years, depending on many factors, such as the casket, the vault, the soil, etc. I have disinterred a man who had been dead for 70 years and he looked perfect, they had another viewing for him. I have also disinterred after 3 months and the body was in advanced stages of decompostition. There are too many factors in the equation to give a definitive answer

Answer 2

What between an Egyptian mummy and Hamlet’s experience?

Egyptian mummies for tens of centuries (or millenia!)

Whereas the gravedigger in Hamlet (act V, scene 1) answers Hamlet’s question: ’How long will a man lie i’th’earth ere he rot?
Faith, if ’a be not rotten before ’a die, ... ’a will last you some eight year, or nine year. A tannerwill last you nine year.
Why he more tham another?
Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade that ’a will keep out water a great while; and your water is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body.
(Followed by the famous skull scene)

Qed: it depends on the situation, dryness, moisture etc

Answer 3

according to ground conditions a long time, wet decay faster,dry mummify, have seen some that at 15 yrs look pretty good still?

Answer 4

over a hundred years if proper procedures are followed