In 1869 members of the Bani Hamida shattered the recently discovered Moabite Stone into pieces by lighting a fire under it and then pouring cold water over it. The stele had been found on Bani Hamadi land and in the dispute over ownership several Bani Hamadi were killed. Though many of the fragments were later retrieved, the full text, one of the earliest Hebrew related scripts, is only preserved through a hurried copy made under difficult conditions.[1]