Couple Find Missing 1900-Year-Old Roman Artifact in Their Yard

An ancient marble tombstone dating back to the Roman era has been discovered in the yard of a Louisiana couple doing some gardening. Tulane University anthropologist Daniella Santoro and partner Aaron Lorenz were going through the weeds at their home in New Orleans in March when they stumbled across the 1,900-year-old artifact. On it, they recognized Latin writing. Santoro reached out to fellow academics, creating the informal “team tombstone.” Together, they determined it was dedicated to a Roman sailor called Sextus Congenius Verus. They traced it back to the Civitavecchia museum in Italy, which was missing an artifact matching the tombstone’s description. The institution was badly damaged by Allied bombing during the war, and much of its collection was lost. Now, the team is trying to d