A strange aluminium shoe
In 1973, in Romania, in the heart of Transylvania, near the town Aiud, workers extracting sand from a quarry not far from the river Mures, found, at the bottom of the excavated bank, a strange aluminum object whose properties have not been explained.
There were three hard bodies, „packaged” like in a shell of hardened sand. They had stood a long, long time beneath that – almost 10 meters thick – layer, deposited over time overhead.
A specialist was called urgently to the sand career to identify the bodies. In two of them he found fossil bones; and in the third, something that seemed, by the shape and weight to be a stone ax that would be served primitive man in killing the animal whose bones were found together. For a proper study, the three items were sent to the History Museum at the city of Cluj-Napoca.
Carefully removing the surrounding petrified sand layers, the specialists found a piece of a leg bone and a piece of tooth, both of a young mastodon, and a totally unknown object, which was not in any case an ax and was not even from stone: it was metal! Detailed analysis has had to offer but more interesting surprises.
The object, about 20 centimeters long, 12.5 centimeters wide and about 7 centimeters thick, had two cylindrical holes, of different diameters, so that the narrow hole penetrates the object toward the base of the larger hole in a perpendicular way. Moreover, the larger hole had in its lower part a chamber as for assembling a rounded axle head in it. On its lower surface and in sides the object showed traces of repeated blows, some of which were strong. All details suggested that it was once part of a bigger device and was lost for one reason or another, in the river bed.
Mastodons, related to elephants, lived from 34 million years ago and disappeared 11 000 years ago. Some estimates said that the age of the bones found was about one million years.
Repeated metallographic analyzes made with the strange object raised further questions. The bulletin issued by ICPMMN Research Center (in Magurele, near Bucharest) shows that the metal piece was actually a complex alloy composed of 12 different elements, among which the main constituent was the aluminum, in a proportion of about 80%.
A very unusual feature was the existence of an anomalous thick layer of aluminum oxide on the entire surface of the object. It is known that this metal oxidizes very hardly in depth, usually the first thin oxide surface layer limits the penetration of oxidation phenomena in the metallic body. The most plausible explanation seems to be, from this point of view, that the object is very old... But the aluminum was discovered in the laboratory in 1825 by Oersted, and the industrial production was started only about 1883... in a century it was virtually impossible to produce an oxide layer so thick.
Moreover, a specialist from Bucharest who attended repeatedly the metallographic analysis wrote: "it’s puzzling but the aluminum has an aging structure, and the alloyed elements regained partly their structures too”. Of qualified people who saw that piece (archaeologists, university professors, engineers), no one was able to identify the object or to find a resemblance to a human product. The exception was a specialist in aviation engineering who suggested that the object might be a landing foot of a small aircraft.
Was someone in prehistoric times, flying through those places in Transylvania, landing on the banks of a river, and losing one of its supporting pieces?
The information above was taken from the book of Florin Gheorghita “Enigme in Galaxie” (Enigmas in the Galaxy). A team, which included members ASFAN George Cohal, and Ion Nutu, as well as Cristian Pompei, of the publication “Lumea Misterelor” (The World of Mysteries) found the object in the deposits of the National History Museum of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca in May 2007. Museum director: Ms. Viorica Crisan, along with Ms. Zoia Maxim, offered all the necessary clarifications, including copies of newspapers and some reviews on the Internet. Unfortunately, multiple causes, among them because the museum was under renovation, they could not submit any original documents or reports of analysis performed in the '70s. Previously, the object was the star of an exhibition in the museum but it was withdrawn after a while by the administration of that time of the museum. The same management refused the request to show the object in an “ancient aliens” exhibition in Germany, organized by Erich von Daniken.
It's been said on this occasion that some experts estimated, by evaluating the aluminum oxide layer over a millimeter thick, that the object discovered near Aiud could have a fantastic age of 250 000 years!
At the request of the Cohal-Nutu-Pompei research team, the „aluminum heel” was brought by Ms. Zoia Maxim to Bucharest, for new analyses at Magurele platform. Here two sets of analyzes were accomplished, by two different methods. At the National Institute of Research and Development for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Department Archaeometallurgy, the results were the following: Aluminium - 80.5%, tin - 6.5%, copper - 6% Silicon - 4% Zinc - 2%, Lead - 0.5% Antimony - 0.5%, in addition were highlighted traces of silver, nickel, manganese and iron. The second, non-destructive, analysis of a fragment of the Aiud object, accomplished in the Laboratory of the Faculty of Physical Metallography, revealed 97.6% aluminum, 2.4% tin and less than 1% other elements. Both analyses amazed the experts, because they were convinced that it is a metallurgical impossibility! Aluminum is not alloying with tin!
In September 2007, George Cohal and Cristian Pompei were able to meet in Iasi, Mr. Florin Gheorghita, who has the first to publish the story of the aluminum object. Among other things, he said that in those years 70, a rather big sample of the „heel” was taken and sent somewhere in Switzerland for analyzes, and the results should be in the Cluj-Napoca museum. Florin Gheorghita later sent to the two persons above copies of the original reports of the analyses made in Romania. We summarize below the results:
The first analysis was made by the Centre for Research and Design for radioactive metals - Magurele – Bucharest. The Analysis Report no.334 of the sample symbol A-1975-CNST-Bucharest shows: Al - 74.17%, Cu - 4.62%, Zn - 1.81% Pb - 0.11% Sn - 0.33% Ni - 0, 0024% Bi - 0.0003% Ag - 0.0002%, Co - 0.0023% Cd - 0.11% Zr - 0.20%. Ga - trace and Si - present. Some other elements were also present. The report is signed by Section chief, Dr.eng. Ion Niederkorn, eng. St. Neciu, and senior researcher M. Gradin.
The second analysis, made by the same Centre, has the Analysis Report no.380, the sample symbol NK-2, brought by Dr.eng. Ion Niederkorn, shows: Al - 92.74%, Si - 2.84%, Cu - 6.2%, Zn - 0.95% Pb - 0.41% Sn - 0.33% Ni - 0.002% Bi - 0.0003, Ag - 0.0002%, Co - 0,002% Cd - 0.055, Zr - 0.20%.
Engineers at “Alro” of Slatina, one of the biggest aluminium companies in Romania and in Europe, examining these analysis reports, made in the '70s, could not identify similar aluminum alloys produced in the world.
As one can easily see, there are considerable differences between the reports. Could it be because of the aging of the metal alloy? What if the flatteningof the vertical cylindrical hole in the back of the object was due to a battle between the mastodon (one million years old) and a "robot”, plucking the landing sole and provoking death of mastodon? Can anyone say how it behaves an alloy over such a period of time?
We have indications that other such objects have been found in our country, often by chance, but because their presence in that place could not be explained, they were ignored, discarded or destroyed. Who was their manufacturer? Was it an earthly civilization now disappeared? Or, why not, some spatial or temporal travelers?
George Cohal
Experts think this ancient metal object is part of a 250,000-year-old UFO
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