In Moab at the site of Khirbet Ataruz, scholars came upon two temples and found among other artifacts a pillar with an inscription.
I have not written up my report yet, but here is my findings so far on this inscription:
---The Inscription on the pillar from Attaroth had many scholars excited, including myself.
---No one is more eager than me to line it up with the biblical record.
---I will, but not in the way that scholars have done so far.
---The theory that it should be lined up with the Mesha stone should be discredited and rightly so.
a. The orthography of this inscription does not come near to that of the style of the scribes of the Mesha Stone and the Inscription of Mesha at Kerak.
b. Whereas the orthography of the scribes in the Mesha Stone and Kerak Inscription were trained and skilled hands, the inscription on the pillar at Attaroth is a scribble not a writing.
c. Whereas the Mesha Stone and Kerak Inscription were using professional tools regularly used for that trade, the one or ones that scribbled on the pillar did it probably with a sharp object like a knife.
d. None of the regular ingredients for a regular Mesha inscription or the genre that Mesha was imitating in his other two texts, can be found on this pillar:
1. No ruler's name appeared.
2. No city name is mentioned.
3. Nowhere is the personal pronoun "I" used.
4. The god of the ruler (Chemosh for Mesha) is not mentioned. These essentials were common in the stelae of the Hittites, Arameaens, Assyrians and Mesha a study in 2018 demonstrated.
---It is not good news for those who want to fuse the data of the Attaroth inscription with that of the Mesha texts.
---It also appeared to me that there may be a Luwian Text on the pillar prior to the scribbling and that the Luwian Text or Iconography was erased?

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