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A nearly 90-year-old painting has sparked a furious online debate and given rise to a bizarre conspiracy theory, with social media users convinced that an Indigenous man depicted in the artwork is holding a modern-day smartphone, the New York Post reports.

The painting in question is Mr. Pynchon and the Settling of Springfield, a mural created by Italian-American muralist Umberto Romano. It depicts a Native American man surrounded by members of his tribe and early English settlers in 17th-century Springfield, which at the time was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

“iPhone JUST DISCOVERED in a 1937 painting???” one X user posted Tuesday. “This time the device really does look like a cell phone,” another commenter agreed.

Claims of “time travel” took off after eagle-eyed users noticed the strange object.

The man appears in the foreground of the mural, painted in 1937. He is intently studying a rectangular object that appears to be charcoal black, with a shiny chrome-like or reflective frame.

As X users pointed out, the mural is housed in a Massachusetts state government office building that was formerly Springfield’s main post office. According to the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, it was one of six murals Romano created with students with funding from the Federal Art Project, a government program that employed artists during the Great Depression from 1935 to 1943.

Despite the wild speculation online, historians agree that the object in the man’s hands is simply a mirror.

Mirrors were common trade goods in 17th-century American colonies, making it perfectly plausible that the man would be so fascinated by his own reflection.

The “Mr. Pynchon” depicted in Romano’s mural was one of the founding figures of modern-day Springfield. William Pynchon arrived in Massachusetts from England, purchased land from the local Agawam people in 1636 and became one of the settlement’s leaders.

According to the Smithsonian, Romano consulted local historian Harry Andrew Wright and writer Esther Forbes to ensure historical accuracy, seeking to portray the development of the region from 1636 to 1936.

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