Case 01: The Missing Tablet of Knossos

Solution

To win, you must have:

  1. Named Roland Fournier as the thief.
  2. Explained his motive by mentioning both of the following:
    • He forged the Tablet of Knossos.
    • He had to get rid of it before Dr. Cunnard could prove the forgery with the magnetic-dating technique.
  3. Found the pieces of the tablet buried in Fournier's garden in front of the Moonglow Roses*.

*Note: Saying it was in Fournier's garden is NOT enough. You must specify the Moonglow Roses.

The Story

Roland Fournier, a doctoral candidate, was invited by Dr. Bownes to join his dig at Knossos. Fouriner came from a poor family. He had joined a radical left group while an undergraduate and still automatically distrusted and disliked anyone with money. The Bownes family clearly was "old money" and had a lot of it. Fournier instinctively classified Bownes as an egocentric pseudo-scholar and decided to expose Bownes in front of the whole archaeological community.

To do this, Fournier forged the tablet and then "discovered" it at the site where he had been digging. Fournier, already respected in the field of epigraphy, verified for Bownes that the tablet was genuine. Bownes shocked Fournier by insisting he be given his full and fair share of the credit in the find. Now, Fournier was trapped. Instead of exposing Bownes as an incompetent, Fournier was now inextricably linked to the Tablet of Knossos. When Dr. Cunnard decided to test the tablet, Fournier had to steal it to save his reputation and his job.

Back