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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Museum Sued for Return of Rare Stone Tablet

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - A man unearthed a rare stone tablet in 1942 and loaned it to the Ohio Historical Society Museum, and the museum now refuses to give it back, Edward Low says in Franklin County Court. The sandstone plate is believed to have been engraved by the prehistoric Adena people between 700 B.C. to 400 A.D., according to the lawsuit.

Low says he found the tablet while digging a play foxhole on a possible burial mound in Parkersburg, W. Va., when he was 12 years old. The item is engraved with two human faces in mirror image beneath a pair of raptorial bird heads. The tablet is allegedly associated with the Prehistoric Early Woodland Adena Culture of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.

In 1971, Low read an article about Dr. Raymond Baby, a museum archeologist, and decided to contact him about the tablet, the lawsuit claims.

Low says Baby asked to borrow the tablet for research, but never returned it. The museum claims the tablet was a gift, though Low insists it was a loan.

He demands the return of the tablet, plus compensatory damages.

His attorneys are Joel Rovito and James Southern of Reynoldsburg.

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