Do human bodies decompose more rapidly in above ground mausoleums?

Question

Do human bodies decompose more rapidly in above ground mausoleums?

Answer 1

Really there is no answer to that question as rates of decomposition depend on the environment the body is placed in, for example if i place a body above ground in a cold environment such as an Alaskan winter, it would decompose more slowly than above ground in a warm humid environment such as Louisiana, however in the same environment with a burial at the exact same time, the answer is yes, a casket is not ventilated as much as a mausoleum, so the body tends to take a little longer to break down, and there have even been cases of mummification in caskets.

Answer 2

That depends on many factors, the location of the mausoleum, The time of internment, the type of coffin used, whether the body had been embalmed or not. So lets say in was in unembalmed in a wooden casket in LA in the summer it would decompose at an extremely high rate because of the heat, the heat in a mausoleum could even reach temperatures that are equal to a crematorium.  Embalmed in a metal coffin in CT in the summer the body would decompose at almost the same rate as under ground only slightly because of heat.  In any case4 unembalmed bodies will decompose fast in a mausoleum because of the locked in heat from the sun where underground the are insulated from the sun.  Embalmed bodies will decompose along an similar rate either place because of the chemical treatment of the body.

Answer 3

I don't think it matters since the corpse should have been prepared in similar fashion.

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