Mysterious Stone in US Backyard Turns Out to Be an Archaeological Treasure

A New Orleans couple found a Latin-inscribed stone in their overgrown backyard and asked experts to identify it.

Researchers determined it was a 2,000-year-old Roman funerary tablet for soldier Sextus Congenius Verus.

The marker had once been cataloged at the National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia, Italy, before disappearing during World War II.

Evidence suggests the artifact later moved through a U.S. soldier’s family before ending up in Louisiana.

The discovery could help reconnect a long-lost grave marker to its original historical and museum context.