A short Aramaic inscription on basalt was discovered at al-Mal in Syria in 1973.
The inscribed basalt block had been cut by builders for use in a modern building.
It was discovered and photographed by an Israeli expedition following the Yom Kippur War.
[7] Klaus Beyer classifies the language of the al-Mal inscription as 'Pagan Old Palestinian',[a] specifically 'Pagan Old East Jordanian'.
[9] Holger Gzella, however, writes that "the text is too brief and too formulaic to exhibit any linguistic peculiarities, so it remains open whether it attests to another, non-Jewish, written tradition of Aramaic during this period.