Most of us have probably seen the picture of King Tut’s tomb just after it was opened, filled with his all his wonderful worldly possesions.
I wonder though, if he was never discovered, how long, theoretically, would his body and all his possessions last in the environment of a sealed tomb, where nothing could get in or out?
(btw, let’s also assume that the chamber would never collapse. 
)
Steve Martin could never have done that SNL skit and song King Tut. Where would civilization be without that? :eek:
Seriously though with no air being able to get in or out I would think it could last indefinitly.
Well, not quite forever. But for a darn sight longer than any of us will be alive. That body was in very nearly the same condition as when it was placed in the tomb.
I take it erosion of the outside of the pyramid is discounted if the tomb is assumed to be air tight??
King Tut’s tomb was found in the “Valley of the Kings” in Luxor if I’m not mistaken, and not in a pyramid.
Tnat’s right. This site describes it as a “tiny tomb owned by a relatively minor king.” What is remarkable about its discovery in 1922 was that it was essentially intact. Most of the other Egyptian tombs had been plundered long before that, stripping them of most of their archaeological value.
Well, um, the Egyptians thought far ahead didn’t they. :smack: :o
It’s violating the stated assumption of the OP about nothing getting in, but I’d hazard the guess that the most threatening destructive process in the Valley would have been floods. While rainfall is not common, it does happen and when it does the water wants to flow down from the surrounding hills and through the relatively narrow Valley. Historically, these periodic floods have moved large amounts of soil around and badly damaged some of the other tombs.
Of course, part of the reason why Tutankhamen’s tomb was undisturbed was that its entranceway had been buried under just such flood debris. But given enough time I’d expect that floodwater would have got in eventually. And once that happened the decay could have been pretty rapid.
The best website on the Valley is that of the Thaban Mapping Project (run by Kent Weeks, the excavator of KV5).