After digging to a depth of 1000 metres last year, Finnish scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network a thousand years ago

Not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, Swedish scientists dug 2000 metres and headlines in the Swedish papers read: "Swedish scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibres, and have concluded that our ancestors already had an advanced high-tech digital network a thousand years earliers than the Finnish."

One week later, the Norwegian newspapers reported the following: "After digging (drilling?) as deep as 5000 metres, Norwegian scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have concluded that 5000 years ago, our ancestors were already using wireless technology"