NARRATOR: On January 18, 2017,
at the National History Museum of Transylvania, ancient
astronaut theorists Giorgio Tsoukalos and Eric von
Daniken were offered a rare opportunity to
get a firsthand look at the Wedge of Aiud. Museum curator Anna Gruia
has taken it out of a storage locker where it has
been deliberately hidden from the public
since the early 1970s. OK, I'm just going
to put my gloves on. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
This is great. ANA GRUIA: So this is it. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Oh,
OK, this is strange. ERICH VON DANIKEN:
It's very heavy. Touch it.
Take it. It's heavy. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Wow. This was found at a
depth of 10 meters, which is about 30 feet in the ground.
ANA GRUIA: Yes. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Yes, and here this is where they took
the sample out in here to make the analysis. And here, you see two pieces
that are broken off sort of. So maybe it was attached or
something, but very strange. So what does the museum
have to say about this? This is a very strange piece. It is. It is a strange
piece for us as well. As historians, we do not
consider it a historical object that we're used to. We don't know what
it was used for, and we acknowledge these
uncertainties about its dating and its composition as well. ERICH VON DANIKEN: So for
what can you use this? It looks like a
hammer or a shovel. But, Giorgio, what is the
word in English [non-english]?? Oh, an excavator tooth. Well, it looks like this. It could have been
something like this. But these excavator tubes are
never made out of aluminium. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
No, it's too weak. ERICH VON DANIKEN:
Aluminium is too soft. They are made out of steel,
especially hard steel. So it could not be that. So we have a real mystery here. But you see this patina
over this whole object? And this creates
another problem. GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: Yes, because
you cannot fake a patina. It's impossible to
artificially create a patina. NARRATOR: The patina is a
thin coating of various metal compounds that
forms on the surface of the metal during exposure
to atmospheric elements. The older the
object, the thicker the patina layer will be. It takes hundreds,
if not thousands, of years for a thick
layer of patina, as this apparently
is, for it to develop. Yes, we agree. There are two basic
problems-- one, that aluminum was not
invented at the age when we presume this was in use. And second, it's the
patina, as you noted. ERICH VON DANIKEN: Which
speaks for the date, for the age of it. So we still have
a mystery here. Thank you very much for
showing us this object, because I know that there was a
time when nobody knew where it was, somewhere in a box in the
back, which means present-day archeology has a problem. And they're doing
magnificent work. But when something like
this comes along, you know, we should investigate
this and not put it in a box in the back. Definitely. It did depend on mentalities
and official position. ERICH VON DANIKEN: Yes. [chuckling] It isn't currently
exhibited because we have to admit as
historians that we do not know more details about it. For us, it's just
baffling at this point. But taking the logic further,
this conflicting information could have just two
solutions so far-- one, that it is
really not so old. And the context is
irrelevant, and the patina was somehow produced in
special circumstances. So it's a new object,
strangely preserved, let's say. And the second option
is, of course, that it's not of terrestrial origin. In all of your
adventures, how does this compare to some
of the other things that are inexplicable? I am helpless. I have no idea. That says it all right
there, very bizarre. Bizarre. I've known about this thing
since the early 1990s. And I have to tell you that
looking at it in person was a dream come true. And it's a very strange thing. I mean, how do you explain this? It certainly looks as if it
was part of a larger object.
