Pictured
STER CRAZY
Is this proof of time travel? Native American appears to gaze at a SMARTPHONE in 1930s mural of colonial America
THERE'S something very strange about this mural of a scene from the 17th century.
If you look very closely, you might be able to spot a man holding what appears to be an iPhone.
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The painting, Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield by Umberto Romano in 1937, shows the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, surrounded by native Americans after arriving in what we now refer to as America.
William Pynchon, born in 1590, was an English colonist and fur trader best known as the founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, in North America.
A man wearing feathers in his hair sits in a bath filled with ceramic jugs on the left of the scene.
In one hand, he grips the mystery object in a way that's strikingly similar to how we hold a smartphone and scroll down the screen with our thumb.
As you all know, smartphones did not become widespread until the noughties, almost 400 years after the event in this picture, which was first spotted by
But it's certain to spark time-travelling conspiracy theories among those with big imaginations.
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It's not the first picture that has prompted the masses to speculate whether time travel exists.
A punk in 1905, a hipster hanging out in 1940 and a Marilyn selfie… there have been plenty of bizarre time-warping pictures over the decades
But was Italian artist Romano trying to send us a message about the Silicon Valley company and our the futuristic tech-heavy society we live in?
The secret Apple products that never made it – from sci-fi watch gadgets to weird dual-screen computers
IT'S STARING YOU IN THE FACE Can YOU spot the hidden woman’s head in this picture? Only the smartest people can do it in less than five seconds
Probably not, says historian Daniel Crown.
Crown believes the gadget was actually a mirror - something that became a symbol of colonial America after it was introduced in the 17th century.
Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield depict native American tribesman in awe of Pynchon's belongings - one of which would probably have been a small looking glass.
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Studies have suggested that Europeans introduced mirrors to the indigenous peoples and they quickly were meshed into their tribal culture.
The first iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs in 2007 - and it's fair to say that it changed the way people around the world communicate.
Apple is expected to launch an epic smartphone to celebrate its tenth-anniversary on September 12.
CAN YOU SPOT THE BIZARRE OBJECTS HIDING IN THESE PICTURES
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