Common FAQs About the Black Coffin Treasure

Many treasure hunters are actually questioning the existence of the black coffin treasure that was dropped by the US Navy somewhere in the Philippine Sea. 

Some says that it's a hoax or fake where there is no such thing while others claim that they have found it.

Here are the following commonly asked questions about the black coffin treasure in the Philippines:

1. What is contained in those black coffin treasures?

Nobody can really confirm the contents of the black coffin treasures. But rumors say that, they contain highly dangerous radioactive element called, "Plutonium". 

This is a type of element used in the past second world war in creating the first Atomic Bomb.

2. Are plutonium expensive?

Yes, plutonium is no doubt quite expensive because it is a rare form of element. 

In fact, there are only few national suppliers and there are extreme strict limitations to those who can buy it and the amount that the buyers are allowed to purchase. 

Due to this reason, dropping those black coffins into the Philippine sea is being questioned by many which seems to prove that the whole idea was a hoax.

3. Why did the US Navy dropped it in the Philippine sea?

According to some rumors, the US Navy ships carrying those black coffin were on their way to deliver the goods but as soon as they heard that the war was finally over, they immediately dropped the boxes since it no longer serves them the intended purpose. 

Other than that, it may also be heavy for their ship that it travels at a slow speed. 

But upon hearing the news that the war has ended, they maybe in a hurry to get back home into their families so they had decided to unload the boxes to speed up their ship.

4. Can a plutonium stop a boat's engine?

According to some fishermen who claimed to have discovered the exact location of the black coffins, every time that they passes their engine-powered boat, it kills off their engine. 

They will only be able to start the engine back when they made it a far away from the site.

5. What's the reward for those who can find and recover the black coffin treasures?

According to the US Military, they are not giving any reward to anyone who can locate or recover the black coffins for them. 

But if sold into the black market, it could become quite a huge fortune for the finder.

Black Lacquer Coffin National Treasure

The famous "Black Lacquer Coffin" actually belongs to the empire of ancient China. And, it wasn't just an ordinary coffin because it belonged to the highest official of the empire. 

Today, it is now crowned as a "National Treasure".

Based from the historical book, each officials actually have their own corresponding type of coffin which was dependent to their Empire-Ranking position.

The highest of course is the emperor. His coffins would consists of five coffins and two other outer coffins. 

Next to the emperor is the feudal lord which was entitled to four coffins and one outer coffin or three coffins with two outer coffins. 

And lastly were the senior officials. Their coffins consists of two inner coffins and one outer coffin.

One of the most famous black lacquer coffin was that of the feudal lord Xin Zhui. His tomb occupied the "Mawangdui Tomb No. 1". 

Through his tomb, it provides a strong physical evidence of the Han Dynasty's funeral system.

Artistic Design of the Black Lacquer Coffin

The artistic design of the black lacquer coffin reflects the painting skills of the Western Han Dynasty. They often paint mystical and grotesque themes about their myth and legends. 

But through the technique which involve the use of embossing lacquer application, it simply shows that their artistic style have been influenced by the Chu-state culture.

Since the people of the Han Dynasty has been influenced by the Chu culture, they were believers of gods and immortals. 

Thus, common mythological designs of the coffins includes deities dancing with one another. There are also mythical gods that are hunting and doing some sort of other happy and joyous depictions about them.

Aside from their gods and immortal beings, there are also over one hundred different patterns of animals painted on the coffin. 

Later on, derived from this pattern comes the "flowing clouds with divine animals". This pattern signifies auspiciousness and exorcising demons. 

As a result, it was then adopted by the early Han Dynasty.

Moreover, the black lacquer coffin is now placed on exhibit at the Hunan Provincial Museum.

Mysterious Lead Coffins of the Medieval Leicester

When archaeologist dug the grave of king Richard III (former king of England) back in August 2013, the excavation still continued until one year later, a mysterious lead coffin was discovered. 

This coffin was placed inside a large limestone of sarcophagus.

Mathew Morris from the University of Leicester was the one who led the team of archaeologists where they have found a skeleton of an elderly women inside the mysterious lead coffin. 

They found the coffin just a few feet away from the grave site of king Richard III.

According to the archaeological experts, the women was probably the early benefactor of the friary. 

It is because due to the radiocarbon dating, she might have been buried before the church was even built in 1250. 

However, through the analysis of her death, it shows that her death could have taken place in the late 1400.

10 Coffins Discovered

There were actually 10 coffins that were discovered by Mathew Morris and his team. The four coffins (including the one mentioned above) were examined and they contain all female remains while the six other coffins were left undisturbed.

One among those ten coffins that were examine was a female with high status. Her lead coffin has an inlaid crucifix and was buried in presbytery of the friary's church probably close to the high altar. 

This alone means that she had a special status in the holy Catholic order.

The other two graves were found inside the choir where it contained wooden coffins. When examined, there were two remains of females with an estimated ages of between 40 to 50 years old. 

Based from the radiocarbon dating, it shows that they have died between 1270 to 1400.

When one of the female remains had undergone osteological examinations, it was found out that she suffered from a congenital hip dislocation. 

Thus, a conclusion was derived that she needed a crutch in order to walk.

The other women seemed to have spent her entire life doing hard physical labor. Her arms and legs shows a strong evidence of lifting heavy loads. 

But, what really bothers the archaeologists is her presence as one of the buried remains in the area that were reserved only for the wealthy benefactors and people with high social status.

As for the fourth coffin, it also contain a female remain. At first, the archaeologists thought that it was probably another women who lived a life of hard physical work. 

But through the analysis of the experts, it shows that the women had a highly-varied and protein-rich diet that only wealthy individuals can consume during the period of her time. 

Other than that, she is believed to have died at an early age of mid 20's.

One of the Female Remain Could be Emma

The only document on today's historical record about the time of burials (700 years ago) into the site was a lady named, "Emma". 

She was the wife of John Holt. However, the document does not contain much information for the archaeologist to distinguish her remains. 

They have no clue on how she looked like, her age at death and the exact location of her grave.

Mathew even claimed that it is impossible to determine if one of those skeletons was Emma due to the lack of information. 

If only she have a known descendants on this generation, a DNA testing can be done. Unfortunately, there is none.

Moreover, Mathew and his team of archaeologists believes that the mysterious lead coffins that they have uncovered will provide a lot of other interesting insights about the lives of the people in the period of medieval Leicester.

Wooden Coffin of a Male | Pre Inca Moche

A dead remain of a human male was discovered by archeologists at the pre-Inca Moche society in Peru. 

He was buried along the tomb of powerful priestesses contained inside a wooden coffin with copper lattice and gilded mask decorations.

 
The people of the pre-Inca Moche were composed of farmers who occupied the arid coasts territory of Peru at around 100 to 1000 A.D. 

And based from the archaeologists, they believe that the women of this society have dominated the authority of leading their people. This is the reason why there were seven royal priestess burials.

Luis Jaime Castillo Butters of the Catholic University of Peru in Lima was the one who led the team of archeologists who started the excavations of the double-chambered Moche tomb. 

And behind their excavation project, they were funded partially by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration.

Castillo and his team were actually expecting female remains because they were working on royal priestess burial sites. 

But, they never expected to uncover a rattle-wielding elite male contained by the wooden coffin. This was very puzzling to them.

More Dead Remains Discovered Inside the Tomb

As Castillo and his team continued on their excavation and exploration of the tomb, they found a ramp that led into the first chamber. 

When they explored it, they found bones of a young human male and at the corner were bones that belongs to a llama animal. 

According to Castillo, these human and animal remains probably serves as a sacrifices.

The archeologists had again discovered another second chamber. And on this second room, they had found more human remains. 

It consists of two females and one male arranged in their simple burials. But just like the other remains in the previous room, the team speculates that they were also probably sacrifices. 

In addition to the trio, there was another young male that sat on a cross-legged form in the same room.

In 2008, Castillo and his team managed to excavate a tomb that belonged to a priestess. Strange though that the tomb was simply alongside the tomb of the elite male with wooden coffin.

Overall, nobody can still confirm the events that took place into those burial sites. Especially the male with the wooden coffin who was a part of the main complex burial layout. 

This man probably have an equal power of authority to the priestesses. But, how come that he was the only man granted with such power?

Black Coffins Are Nuclear Power Detectors

If most individuals' own personal opinion about the contents of the black coffin treasure is plutonium, we actually came across on our research here on the internet that one person claimed that the contents of those boxes are "nuclear power detectors".

These nuclear power detectors were actually devices that were intended to detect any vessel or submarine that passes over them. 

This is probably the reason why some fisher often felt their small boat engine malfunctioned while cruising over the dropped zone of those black boxes. 

Thus, the US Navy didn't just dropped their black coffin in the Philippine seas but on other parts of the world as well. 

They had strategically dropped them off on places like bays, straits and other common pathways of vessels and submarines.

According to some sources from the US Embassy, those black coffins were dropped somewhere in the early 50's up to the late 60's. 

These boxes does not contain plutonium but they are machines designed to capture underwater sounds particularly generated by vessel or submarine engines. 

Once these machine-boxes detected such mechanical sounds, the machine will immediately transmit the data gathered in a designated headquarters for analysis. 

Through these machines, the US Intelligence Agency will be able to determine the type of vessel or submarine, possible country of origin and etc...

Unfortunately, rumors came out that these black coffins contains precious plutonium. 

Some speculations claims that commodity brokers simply made this part of the story as a form of enticing curious financiers to fund their project. 

And at the end, the commodity brokers will be the one who makes money out from their financier victims.

With the growing interest of recovering the black coffin treasures, many of these boxes has already been recovered on various parts of the world particularly by treasure hunters. 

As a result, the US Intelligence community had lost many signals and had decided to abandon utilizing these machines. 

Thank goodness that through the fast-paced improvement of our technology, spy satellites has been invented as the perfect replacement.

Since the black coffins (according to the US Embassy) doesn't really contain plutonium, this is probably the reason why the US Military claims that they are not giving any rewards to those who can find and locate these black coffin boxes for them. 

Or, it is probably a cover up not to boosts the interest of all underwater explorer to hunt and recover these objects.

When You are Cremated What Happens to the Coffin?

If it happens that you died and you choose to be cremated, what actually happens to the coffin? Does it get burned along with your body or is it reused by others?

The answer actually depends on the cultural tradition of a certain country or place that you follow. In most Western Countries, they burn the coffin along with the dead body. 

While in most Asian Countries, they directly burn the body without the coffin.

U.S. Cremation Tradition

In the United States, most casket manufacturers offers several coffins that are designed for cremation purposes. 

These coffins are made out of combustible materials particularly wood to ensure that everything gets burned on the cremation process.

On some States, the dead body is placed inside a container that is made out of corrugated cardboard box. 

During the Funeral Service, the container is inserted into a well designed traditional casket to make it look very presentable to the mourners. 

But once the service is done, the inserted box containing the dead body will be taken out from the traditional casket to be cremated.

There are actually some Funeral Homes that offers rentals of their available caskets. These are the types of caskets with traditional and presentable designs. 

And since they are rental caskets, they are designed with removable beds and liners. These beds and liners are the once that get's replaced after each use.

U.K's Cremation Tradition

UK have a strict policy when it comes to cremation of their dead. The dead body is actually cremated entirely along with the coffin. Thus, every coffins that undergoes cremation procedure must be closely examined.

Aside from the materials used in building the coffin (which must be made out of combustible materials), the dead body must not be wearing any metallic objects such as jewelries. 

It's because according to UK's Code of Cremation Practice, opening a coffin at the crematorium is highly prohibited.

Once the cremation process is complete, the burnt remains will pass through a magnetic field that picks up all of the unnecessary metals. These metals won't be given to the family but to be interred in the crematorium grounds or recycled. 

Only the ashes are given back to the family. Otherwise, the ashes will be scattered in the crematorium grounds.

Australia's Cremation Tradition

Just like in the UK and US, Australia follows the same tradition of cremating their dead along with their coffins. Today, there is a growing number of manufacturers offering cardboard coffins and particle-board coffins. Particle-board coffins (aka "chippie") are actually best recommended for those on a tight budget.

Japan's Cremation Tradition

The Japanese style of cremation is far different from the three countries mentioned above. But similarly, the Japanese also place their dead in a coffin during the funeral period. 

What makes their cremation procedure different is that, the coffin is placed on a tray in the crematorium. 

As the family get's to witness the entire process, they get a final glimpse of the body of their passed love once as it slides out from the coffin down into the cremation chamber to get burned into ashes. 

This scares most of the small children giving them psychological trauma throughout their entire lives.

Thailand and Other South East Asian Countries Cremation Tradition

In Thailand and some other South East Asian Countries, they actually follow the same tradition of cremating their dead. 

There's a lot of chanting involve particularly performed by the monks and elders. And of course, the dead is placed in a coffin.

When it comes to the cremation procedure, the coffin is placed on a pyre made of bricks. 

Then, after the final chanting of the monks, each people who came to mourn comes close to the coffin with their own lighted torches of candles, incense and fragrant woods tossing them right on the coffin. 

This is exactly how the cremation process takes place.

The coffin will continue to get burned until nothing is left but ashes. These ashes are then collected and stored in an urn for the family of the dead to keep.

Moreover, do you have a different form of tradition in cremating your dead? 

Is it the same as cremating them along with their coffins? 

Feel free to share them up on the Comment Form provided below.

Solid Gold Coffin of king Tutankhamun

"King Tutankhamun's" solid golden coffin was finally discovered in November 1922 by Howard Carter and his sponsor, Lord Carnavon. 

This is an ancient Egyptian tomb that remained hidden for over 3,000 years in the place called "Valley of the Kings" at Thebes.

But first, who is king Tutankhamun?

King Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh who reigned from about 1337 to 1328 BC. He actually became a pharaoh at such a very young age of only 9 years old. 

But according to the forensic analysis, he only reigned for around 9 years period. Thus, he died at the age of 18.

Even with the advance technology that we have today, experts could not find any positive evidence on how Tutankhamun died. 

Based on the X-Ray of the mummy in 1968, the scientists had discovered bone fragments in his skull. This gives them the theory that the boy was probably hit on the head with a hard object.

Another theory of king Tutankhamun's death was the CT scan. It was actually featured in the National Geographic that the mummy's leg has a thin coating of embalming resin around the leg. 

This suggests that Tut already had a leg injury before he died. So the other aspect of his death was that, his leg injury may have resulted into a serious infection that caused the boy's unfortunate death.

Series of Golden Coffins

Of all the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, the one who remained famous of them all up until today was king Tutakhamun. 

It was not because of his leadership as a king or leading his empire to progress but due to his highly decorated coffin that astounded the world.

What really makes king Tut's coffin so remarkable is that, it is not just made of one coffin but a series of three coffins. 

And that's not all, these coffins were also encased again into another big quartzite sarcophagus which has been placed into another series of four shrines.

The innermost three series of coffins bears the shape of a human figure (aka anthropoid coffins). All these three coffins were painted in the image of the king. 

When it comes to Egyptian beliefs, these paintings were very important because they do believe that it provides the dead a face in their afterlife.

The first two coffins of Tut were made of gilded wood but the third and final coffin that contains the mummy was made out of solid gold. Tut's mummified remains also wore a fabulous golden death mask.

Moreover, other than king Tutankhamun's coffins, there are many other richly decorated and covered in gold objects contained inside the tomb. 

The Egyptians believed that these objects were needed by the king on his afterlife. Today, you can now pay a visit into these objects at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.