Ancient artefact containing mysterious 'spirits of the dead' message discovered in a backyard

It’s not every day that a routine gardening session uncovers a piece of history dating back 2,000 years. Yet, that’s exactly what happened when a New Orleans family stumbled upon an ancient artefact buried in their own backyard.

While tidying the garden, they uncovered a small marble block inscribed with Latin words that translate to "spirits of the dead."

Intrigued by the mysterious message, they reached out to experts for answers.

Daniella Santoro, an anthropologist at Tulane University, was initially surprised by the Latin inscription, as per AP. She consulted her colleague Susann Lusnia, a classical archaeologist, who identified the slab as a Roman grave marker.

She believes the slab to have belonged to a Roman sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus. His gravestone called him "well deserving" and was made by two "heirs," probably his shipmates, since Roman sailors couldn’t marry.

The marble slab had been missing from an Italian museum for years, until now.

AP News

The tablet was originally found in the 1860s in an ancient military cemetery near Civitavecchia, Italy, not far from Rome. Its inscription was recorded in 1910, but the tablet’s location later became unknown.

Before World War II, it was kept at the National Archaeological Museum in Civitavecchia. The museum was heavily damaged during the war, and the tablet went missing for decades. The size of the missing tablet matches the one found in New Orleans.

The FBI is now working with Italian authorities to return the artefact.

When news of the discovery broke, Erin Scott O’Brien’s ex-husband called her to watch the story. She instantly recognised the marble piece, which they had used as a garden ornament.

AP News

They had forgotten about it before selling the house to Santoro in 2018.

O’Brien explained she inherited the tablet from her grandparents – her grandmother was Italian, and her grandfather, a New Orleans native, had been stationed in Italy during World War II.

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