The Fifth mīl from Jerusalem: Another Umayyad milestone from southern Bilād al-Shām

In 1958 an Arabic inscription written in monumental angular script was found in the woods next to Aqua BeIla-'Ayn Hemed, on the road between Jerusalem and the coast. The inscription was misfiled in the archives of the Israel Antiquities Authority, remaining unknown to the public for almost fifty years. Following a thorough search of the archives during doctoral research, the author found the original documentation relating to the long-forgotten inscription. The fragmentary inscription is incised into a marble slab, of which only the end of the last three lines remains. The surviving words are in line with the formula found on other milestones dated to the Umayyad period, allowing a reconstruction of the last sentence, and even of the missing upper parts of the inscription. The lines read: "From Jerusalem to this milestone, five miles".