Daniella Santoro and Aaron Lorenz stumbled upon a 1,900-year-old artefact when they were clearing the undergrowth in their garden, but the item in question belonged to a country on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean
Matt Davies Trendswatch Reporter
11:57, 08 Oct 2025
Daniella Santoro and Aaron Lorenz made the discovery while addressing the undergrowth in their garden (stock image)
(Image: Getty Images)
A couple has been left floored after discovering an ancient relic in their garden that belongs to a country 5,000 miles away. In a remarkable find that likely raises more questions than answers, Daniella Santoro and Aaron Lorenz were addressing the undergrowth in their garden one day when they stumbled upon a 1,900-year-old artefact.
Yet, in a baffling twist, the anthropologist and her husband found a relic from a nation on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. You see, Daniella and Aaron live in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the US, and the discovery was a Roman gravestone.
A report produced by the magazine attached to New Orleans’s Preservation Resource Center (PRC) detailed how the couple had noticed that the stone’s inscription was in Latin, so, in an effort to learn more, Daniella reached out to two academics.
Dr Ryan Gray, an archaeologist at the University of New Orleans, submitted photos of the relic to a fellow academic, Harald Stadler, a professor at the University of Innsbruck. He, in turn, also sent them to his Latin instructor brother for examination.
Academics concluded that the headstone was in honour of Sextus Congenius Verus(Image: D. Ryan Gray/Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans)
In a surprising development, Gray and Susann Lusnia, an associate professor of classical studies and Daniella’s colleague at Tulane University, separately came to the same verdict, reports the Guardian.
Both academics concluded that the headstone was in honour of Sextus Congenius Verus, a Roman sailor and a member of the military from around the second century, but there was yet another layer to this curious tale.
It turned out that the gravestone resembled one that was reported missing from a museum in the Italian city of Civitavecchia. So, continuing the pursuit, Susann made contact with the museum, and the item was handed over to the FBI.
Daniella, who gave the relic to the Bureau as part of efforts to repatriate it to its rightful home, and the rest of “team tombstone” theorised that it may have been taken to the US in the 20th century (possibly in the aftermath of World War II).
In the conflict, Allied bombing that occurred between the years 1943 and 1944 nearly obliterated the Italian museum. Subsequently, it wouldn’t open its doors again until the 1970s.
It’s not the only amazing garden discovery made by a couple in recent months (stock image)
(Image: Getty Images)
Gray, postulating in a column for the magazine, suggested that it could have fallen into the possession of an antiques dealer, who, in turn, may have possibly sold it to a tourist.
However, it’s not the only amazing garden discovery made by a couple in recent months. Olivia and Jack Munro, who’d been renovating a 400-year-old property, recently found a 72-foot-deep well.
Speaking in a TikTok video, Olivia said: “We found it by chance when we were doing some work nearby – the digger moved some dirt and we saw a ring of bricks.”
She added: “We were speechless when we uncovered it.”
Comments are closed.