Overview

• Tulane anthropologist Daniella Santoro and Aaron Lorenz uncovered the marble slab during yard work in March.
• Scholars identified the Latin inscription as a memorial to a Roman sailor, Sextus Congenius Verus, dating to roughly the second century.
• The artifact matches a tombstone recorded as missing from the city museum of Civitavecchia near Rome.
• The finders transferred the stone to the FBI Art Crime Team as the formal repatriation process moves forward.
• Researchers reviewed local ownership and wartime clues to its 20th‑century journey but have not confirmed a chain of custody.