A piece aluminium that looks as if it was handmade is being hailed as 250,000-year-old proof that aliens once visited Earth.

The discovery of the mysterious chunk of metal in communist Romania in 1973 was not made public at the time, according to CEN.

Testing has since revealed that the object is made of 12 metals and is 90 per cent aluminium with Romanian officials dating it as being 250,000 years old.

The initial results were later confirmed by a lab in Lausanne, Switzerland, CEN reports.

A piece aluminium that looks as if it was handmade is being hailed as 250,000-year-old proof that aliens once visited Earth

Metallic aluminium was not really produced by mankind until around 200 years ago, so the discovery of the large chunk that it claimed to be up to 250,000 years old is being held up as a sensational find.

WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE? While UFO hunters claim that the mystery chunk of metal was brought to Earth by aliens, some experts dispute this. Local historian Mihai Wittenberger says that the object is actually a metal piece from a World War II German aircraft. He believes that it is a piece of the landing gear from a Messerschnmitt ME 262. However, this does not explain the age of the artefact, claim the investigators. Nigel Watson, author of the UFO Investigations Manual, told MailOnline that the object could be wreckage from a satellite, which may explain why it was kept secret back in 1973. Advertisement

In 1973, builders working on the shores of the Mures River not far from the central Romanian town of Aiud found three objects 10 metres (33 feet) under the ground.

They appeared to be unusual and very old, and archaeologists were bought in who immediately identified two of them as being fossils.

The third looked like a piece of man-made metal, although very light, and it was suspected that it might be the end of an axe.

All three were sent together with the others for further analysis to Cluj, the main city of the Romanian region of Transylvania.

It was quickly determined that the two large bones belonged to a large extinct mammal that died 10,000-80,000 years ago, but experts were stunned to find out that the third object was a piece of very lightweight metal, and appeared to have been manufactured.

The object is 20 centimetres (7.8 inches) long, 12.5 centimetres (4.9 inches) wide and 7 centimetres (2.8 inches) thick

The details of the discovery were never made public at the time because it was pulled out of the earth in communist Romania in 1973, claim the investigators

Builders working on the shores of the Mures River not far from the central Romanian town of Aiud found three objects 10 metres (33 feet) under the ground, one of which was the chunk of metal

In 1973, builders working on the shores of the Mures River not far from the central Romanian town of Aiud found three objects 10 metres (33 feet) under the ground

The object is 20 centimetres (7.8 inches) long, 12.5 centimetres (4.9 inches) wide and 7 centimetres (2.8 inches) thick.

What puzzled experts is that the piece of metal has concavities that make it look as if it was manufactured as part of a more complex mechanical system.

Now a heated debate is going on that the object is actually part of a UFO and proof of visitation by an alien civilisation in the past.

The piece of metal was originally to be the end of an axe

Gheorghe Cohal, the Deputy Director of the Romanian Ufologists Association, told local media: 'Lab tests concluded it is an old UFO fragment given that the substances it comprises cannot be combined with technology available on Earth.'

However, local historian Mihai Wittenberger claims that the object is actually a metal piece from a World War II German aircraft.

He believes that it is a piece of the landing gear from a Messerschnmitt ME 262.

The UFO hunters say that this explanation does not explain the age of the artifact.

The metal object has now gone on display in the History Museum of Cluj-Napoca, with a sign that reads 'origin still unknown'.

'It is fairly rare for people to find chunks of metal attributed to UFO crashes', Nigel Watson author of the UFO Investigations Manual told MailOnline.

'The (in)famous Roswell flying saucer crash of 1947 is alleged to have left wreckage that was impossible to cut or burn and would return to its original shaped if crumpled up.

'Unfortunately, the USAF whisked all the wreckage away leaving conspiracy theorists to think that the US government has a flying saucer stashed away in Area 51.

'If UFO wreckage is kept from the grasp of the US government, or by mystery "Men In Black", it usually has a mundane explanation.

'In some cases our own satellites have crashed and have been regarded as UFO wreckage, which is a good way of keeping a space mission secret.

'In this instance, it could be wreckage of a satellite, and that's why it was kept secret back in 1973.

'As with all such cases, the debate between the UFO supporters and people with more Earthly explanations tends to rumble on without either side conceding defeat'.

The metal object has now gone on display in the History Museum of Cluj-Napoca, with a sign that reads 'origin still unknown'.