Saudi Arabia’s Tayma Oasis is home to a 4,000-year-old geological mystery – a strange rock formation perfectly split down the middle with the precision of a laser beam.

The world-famous Al Naslaa rock formation is made up of two large sandstone boulders supported by a natural pedestal that appears much too small for its purpose. But what really draws people’s attention is the perfect split between the two boulders, which appears to have been done with a powerful laser beam. The almost flawless split has inspired lots of speculation on the internet, with some suggesting that Al Naslaa is proof that ancient civilizations may have been more advanced than history tells us.

Photo: Unsual Uniform

What looks like a simple crack at first glance, quickly leaves people in awe, as the break is so exact and straight that it looks like someone cut the sandstone boulder in two with a powerful laser. Al Naslaa is only one of many rocks in the Tayma Oasis that features a unique appearance, but’s it’s this near-perfect split that makes it stand out.

The Al Naslaa standing rock formation has created confusion among geologists and historians ever since it was discovered, as no one has really been able to explain how exactly it was created. The smooth shapes of the two boulders and the small pedestal could be attributed to the natural elements, but the perfect vertical split looks man-made.

Most geologists believe that the smooth split has a perfectly natural cause – tectonic movement. The earth shifted only slightly, but enough to cause the rock to crack in two. However, there are other scientists who believe that the split is really a fault line, as the material surrounding faults usually tends to be weaker and erode easier. There are been those who believe Al was formed from a volcanic dike of some weaker mineral that solidified there before everything was exhumed.

As mentioned above, there are also people who believe that Al Naslaa is the work of an advanced ancient civilization or that of aliens. While both of those theories seem unlikely, there are plenty who believe something along those lines happened, as the vertical split looks too good to be real.