A nearly 2,000-year-old Roman grave marker discovered in a New Orleans backyard has now been returned to Italy. The marble epitaph – dating back roughly 1,900 years – was officially handed over to Italian officials in Rome on Wednesday during a ceremony led by the FBI. The event also marked the repatriation of another antiquity recovered in the US, the agency said.
The artifact first came to light last year when Tulane University anthropologist Danielle Santoro and her husband, Aaron Lorenz, were clearing undergrowth in their yard. The couple noticed a slab with an unusually smooth surface and a carved inscription that appeared to be in Latin.
