[Seany (OP)]

They have found bodies that are 400 years old, with still flesh on the bones! Thus, they say that it hasn't rained for over 400 years in that part of the desert!

What is it that allows those places to not rain for so long?

[Karen W.]

REALLY! Thats a long time even for a desert right?

[another_someone]

They have found bodies that are 400 years old, with still flesh on the bones! Thus, they say that it hasn't rained for over 400 years in that part of the desert!

What is it that allows those places to not rain for so long?

I would guess that they are encircled (or at least, blocked from the direction where rain clouds are likely to come) by high mountains that make it difficult for rain clouds to break through.

[JimBob]

Contrary to popular belief, it rains all the time in deserts - the problem is this rain never reaches the ground. The high heat and low humidity causes evaporation of the rain before it reaches the ground.

[another_someone]

Contrary to popular belief, it rains all the time in deserts - the problem is this rain never reaches the ground. The high heat and low humidity causes evaporation of the rain before it reaches the ground.

I can understand this during the daytime, but given the very low temperatures desserts can reach at night, I am supprised this is still true of the night.

[JimBob]

It is the heating during the day that allow for showers to develop. The desert is a place of dominantly high pressure. the way clouds and rain form is when heat causes the water vapor to condense in clouds.

Day time heating gives the atmosphere the energy needed to produce thunderstorms.

[Seany (OP)]

Wonderful.. But if there is no moisture, can a human body, or any other body, not decompose?

[JimBob]

YES, deserts all over the world have been a source of mummies. The Gobi Desert, the high Andes of Peru, the Sahara, and many other places have mummified remains. Both the Chineese and Andean mummies are found in cold deserts, not hot ones. For info on the Gobi-Chinese mummies, start at the link below.

Mummies form in desert because of the rapid water loss from the corpse, loss so quick that the bacteria usually active in decomposition cannot survive.

One of the interesting thinks about the Chinese mummies are that they are Caucasian, fair haired - even red headed - and they are dressed in woolen cloth that are very similar to Celtic plaids. Some archaeologist believe they are Celts.

http://library.thinkquest.org/J003409/china.htm