Aiud object

The Aiud Object (or "Aiud Artifact") is a claimed out-of-place artifact said to have been found by construction workers in 1974 in the Mureș River in central Romania, near the town of Aiud, and said to be of ancient (possibly pre-human) origin. Mainstream news sources ^[1] and paranormal sites ^[2] have suggested the object may have been left behind by extraterrestrial visitors to Earth.

The object is shaped like a wedge or possibly a fragment of machinery, and is composed of 12 metals, including about 89% aluminum.^[3] The object was discovered with confirmed mastodon fossils said to established its extreme antiquity, with the earliest estimates placing its origin in a period well before humans had established metalworking. Dates asserted for the artifact have ranged from 250,000 years B.P. to 400 years B.P. Since even the later date would establish an origin approximately 2000 years before humans learned to process aluminum in 1825, the object's composition is said, along with its unusual form, to be evidence of its extraterrestrial origin.^[4]

At least one other commentator has commented on the object's physical and possible chemical similarity to a mechanical part from digging equipment, known as an excavator bucket tooth (EBT). A row of these form the digging edge of a steam shovel or backhoe configuration. While these teeth are usually made of carbon steel, buckets with aluminum alloy teeth are used when excavating in the presence of volatile compounds like coal, tar sands, or petroleum.^[3] As the object was found in a coal-producing region, its possible modern provenance could place it in the category of erroneously dated objects.

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