In 840 B.C.E., the king of the land of Moab, Mesha, commissioned a royal inscription to commemorate the Moabite rebellion against Israelite domination. The Bible recounts a ninth-century Moabite rebellion, which may be the same as the conflict recorded on this Stela. According to Mesha, by the time the Moabite revolted against Israel and expelled its forces from the region, the tribe of Gad had been living in Atarot on the western edge of the Moabite plateau "since time immemorial." In the Mesha Stela, also known as the Moabite Stone, Mesha specifically mentions King Omri, his son (Ahab) or grandson (Jehoram), the tribe of Gad, and perhaps most significantly, the name of the God of Israel.

Shortly after its discovery, the Stela was smashed into fragments by Bedouins. A young French diplomat and amateur archaeologist, Charles Clermont-Ganneau tracked down and acquired the pieces and attempted to reconstruct the Stela. In the photo, the smooth areas of the Stela mark Clermont-Ganneau's reconstructions based on a paper impression made before the Stela was smashed.

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