The Dig

The Valley of the Kings · February 1923 · the seal was already broken · Difficulty: Detective 5 · 8×8

The Valley of the Kings, February 1923. After three fruitless seasons the expedition had finally reached a sealed burial chamber, and Venetia, the wealthy patron who paid for every shovel, had travelled from London to be the first to see the sarcophagus opened. That afternoon the site was busy: crates were being packed in the finds tent, camels waited in the camp for the evening caravan, and the last steps of the pit were being cleared. When the dust had settled, Venetia was found in the burial chamber, beside the sarcophagus. Everyone on the site gives a statement – find out who was alone with her.

Rules

1. Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
2. “Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the stone pillars, the amphorae, the ladder, the sphinx, the sarcophagus, the wheelbarrow, the tents, the tables, the date palm and the crate) cannot be occupied; the folding stools and the camels can.
3. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Agatha (the epigrapher): A folding stool was somewhere in her row.
• Bernard (the archaeologist): He was not with Ezzat.
• Clementine (the photographer): She was in the Finds Tent.
• Douglas (the surveyor): An amphora was somewhere in his row.
• Ezzat (the foreman): Somebody in his area was beside the wheelbarrow.
• Farida (the interpreter): She was beside a tent.
• Gamal (the antiquities inspector): He was beside the date palm. He was alone with somebody sitting on a camel.
• Venetia (the patron of the expedition): The victim. She was found in the Burial Chamber, beside the sarcophagus – alone with the murderer.

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