The Nokia 1200AD range?

Scientists on a archaeological dig in the Austrian city of Salzbur, claim to have found a clay copy of the modern-day gadget which they say is about 800 years old.

The phone-shaped object includes a writing style known as cuneiform which features on all the keys.

Cuneiform was one of the first systems of writing and was created by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia in around 3,500BC to 3,000 BC.

Now conspiracy theorists are jumping on the discovery claiming that it could be evidence of an advanced civilisation or even time travel.

Conspiracy website tothedeathmedia.com reported: "According to reports, during archaeological excavations at Fuschl am See, (in Salzburg), Austria, researchers unearthed a mysterious artefact from the thirteenth century with cuneiform writing that strangely resembles a cell phone.

"This type of writing is typically found in modern-day Iran or Iraq (ancient Mesopotamia).

"What a device like this with Cuneiform writing is doing in Austria is something that no one is able to fully understand."

"We cannot explain what it is, whether it is real or not, but it has caught our attention and we would love to know more about it."

However, even the conspiracy experts are not convinced the discovery is real.

A lack of checkable information on the dig and the startling similarity to an old Nokia handset have many online posters convinced it is just an imaginative hoax.

"Obviously we cannot avoid considering the possibility that this artefact is a hoax." added tothedeathmedia.com.

"Finding something like this is more than sensational and points to the possibility that its creator could have seen a similar device in the distant past. What does this mean?

"Well, it means that it is possible that in the distant past, someone saw something that resembled a communication device like a mobile phone and decided to recreate the device in stone."

(dailystar.co.uk)