US Couple Discovers Ancient Roman Tombstone in Their Yard

Roman Tombstone of the aquilifer Cn. Musius of Legio XIV Gemina from Mainz. Credit: Flickr / Mike Bishop CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

A US mates from New Orleans made a singular find portion clearing their backyard — an past Roman tombstone believed to beryllium astir 1,900 years old. The uncovering has triggered an planetary probe into however the relic ended up successful Louisiana and efforts to instrumentality it to its location country, Italy.

Tulane University anthropologist Daniella Santoro and her husband, Aaron Lorenz, unearthed the level marble slab earlier this year. The find was archetypal reported by the Preservation Resource Center (PRC) of New Orleans, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the city’s historical heritage.

A connection successful Latin

According to the PRC, the mates recovered the chromatic successful March and noticed it bore an inscription successful Latin, the connection of past Rome. Intrigued, Santoro contacted archaeologist D. Ryan Gray astatine the University of New Orleans and her Tulane colleague, classical studies prof Susann Lusnia, for assistance identifying the artifact.

Gray shared photographs of the slab with Harald Stadler, a prof astatine the University of Innsbruck successful Austria, who passed them on to his brother, a Latin instructor. Both Lusnia and Stadler reached the aforesaid decision independently: the chromatic was a sedate marker dedicated to Sextus Congenius Verus, a Roman sailor and worker who lived during the 2nd century.

🔴BREAKING: Couple successful U.S. Unearth Roman Tombstone successful Their Garden

In New Orleans, a mates cleaning their gait uncovered a 1,900-year-old Roman tombstone dedicated to Sextus Congenius Verus, a naval worker of the Misenum Praetorian Fleet.
Experts traced the Latin inscription,… pic.twitter.com/9HWbTYrY7W

— History Content (@HistContent) October 8, 2025

Link to a missing Italian depository artifact

The headstone besides matched the statement of 1 reported missing from the metropolis depository of Civitavecchia, Italy, located northwest of Rome. Gray wrote successful a file for the PRC that the depository had primitively housed the tombstone adjacent the tract wherever it was discovered.

After confirming its apt origin, Lusnia contacted the Civitavecchia museum, and Santoro and her collaborators turned the artifact implicit to the FBI’s creation transgression squad to statesman the process of repatriation. Santoro’s radical — which she jokingly called “team tombstone” — past began trying to portion unneurotic however the relic had traveled astir 5,000 miles to New Orleans.

Tracing the stone’s mysterious journey

Their research suggests the tombstone was apt brought to the United States sometime successful the 20th century, perchance aft World War II, erstwhile American and Allied troops were stationed successful Italy. But who brought it remains unknown.

Records amusement that Santoro and Lorenz’s location erstwhile belonged to Frank and Selma Simon, longtime New Orleans residents who owned the spot for overmuch of the 1900s. Frank Simon, who managed a wholesale footwear business, died successful 1945. His daughters, 4 saleswomen and 1 seamstress, kept the location until 1991. Santoro and Lorenz bought it successful 2018.

An American mates recovered an past Roman tombstone successful their backyard. It disappeared from a depository successful Italy, astir apt aft World War II, according to The Guardian.

Tuley University anthropologist Daniella Santoro and her hubby Aaron Lorenz discovered the marble slab successful March… pic.twitter.com/wQfY3Qta4j

— catdorina (@catdorina) October 8, 2025

Santoro’s squad concisely considered that a Navy seasoned who erstwhile lived adjacent doorway mightiness person brought the chromatic location from Europe, but that mentation was dismissed aft the National World War II Museum confirmed helium had served lone successful the Pacific theater.

Lost successful the chaos of war

Lusnia aboriginal visited the Civitavecchia depository and recovered that it had been astir destroyed successful Allied bombings betwixt 1943 and 1944. The museum, which reopened successful 1970, mislaid overmuch of its postulation during the attacks. A 1954 inventory listing the tombstone was based connected older records, suggesting the artifact was apt mislaid successful the chaos of war.

Gray noted that it’s besides imaginable the chromatic passed done an antique trader and was sold to a tourer aft the warfare — a clip erstwhile specified trades went mostly unregulated.

“Perhaps a household subordinate oregon idiosyncratic cleaning retired the location aft a merchantability saw it conscionable arsenic a convenient paving chromatic for a muddy yard,” helium wrote. “Right now, it is intolerable to say, though we’ll proceed to look for caller possibilities.”

A singular lawsuit of rediscovery

Museum unit successful Civitavecchia are preparing to observe erstwhile the artifact is returned and placed backmost connected display. Gray said the find shows however a homeowner’s curiosity tin bring to airy thing some unexpected and historically significant.