The mystery of the Assos stone coffin helps corpses decompose extremely quickly

The ancient city of Assos in Türkiye has attracted experts as it is the place where a strange and inexplicable phenomenon was recorded. The local residents first discovered this incident. They said that the stone coffins in the Assos cemetery can decompose corpses at an extremely fast rate. In just about 40 days, the corpses placed in the stone coffins completely decompose. Photo: Ancient origins.

The mysterious phenomenon is therefore called σαρκο φαγοσ ('sarko fagos'). In Greek, the phrase means "cannibal." Photo: romeartlover.it.

Historical records state that Assos was originally a small town in the Çanakkale province of Türkiye, founded between around 1000 BC and 900 BC. Aeolian settlers from Lesbos founded Assos. Photo: romeartlover.it.

The first inhabitants of Assos also built the Doric Temple of Athena on the mountaintop in 530 BC. This area was where Hermias - a student of Plato, ruled. During Hermias's reign, Assos flourished economically , culturally... Many great philosophers came to live here. Photo: romeartlover.it.

However, Assos's heyday came to an end a few years later when the Persian Empire invaded and then fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC. Then, Assos came under the control of the Roman Empire. Photo: romeartlover.it.

By the 5th century BC, the first coffins were used in Assos to bury the dead. Made from magma (andesite) stone, each coffin was about 2m long, 80-90cm wide and high. Accordingly, each coffin weighed about 3 tons. Photo: romeartlover.it.

The stone coffins in Assos decompose extremely quickly. Normally, an adult body takes several years to decades to fully decompose. However, an adult body placed in a stone coffin in Assos only takes about 40 days to fully decompose. Photo: romeartlover.it.

Faced with this mysterious incident, scientists have conducted research to find an explanation. Despite spending a lot of time and effort, they have yet to find an exact answer to the mysterious "cannibal" coffins in Assos. Photo: romeartlover.it.

Several theories have been put forward to explain this incident. One of them is that the ancients may have added aluminum to the coffin to speed up the decomposition of the body. Photo: romeartlover.it.

Meanwhile, one hypothesis suggests that the soil and climate in Assos may have played an important role in accelerating the decomposition process of the corpse. Photo: romeartlover.it.

Readers are invited to watch the video : Revealing lost civilizations through archaeological remains.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/bi-an-quan-tai-da-assos-giup-tu-thi-phan-huy-cuc-nhanh-post1545639.html