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There is a nice article in Archaeology Magazine about this year's excavation at Zincirli and the new inscription, which I promised back at the end of July would be very interesting! 

A bit about the context of the findspot:

The stele was found in an annex to what is most likely Kuttamuwa's house, in a residential district outside the city's royal citadel and acropolis. (In an earlier phase, this annex was a kitchen that contained two large, circular clay bread ovens.) The 800-pound, three-foot-tall basalt monument was inserted into a flagstone platform against a wall in a corner of the small room and surrounded by remnants of food offerings, such as animal bones, and fragments of stone bowls similar to the ones depicted in it, indicating that the room was a private shrine. "It's possible that there was originally a cremation urn somewhere in the vicinity," says Schloen, "but at a later time when this room went out of use, it was moved or lost—or we just haven't found it yet."

Description of the image:

The inscription is etched above a masterfully carved image of the deceased, who sits at an offering table filled with food, symbolizing the lavish banquet he hoped to enjoy in the afterlife: duck in a pedestaled stone bowl, two loaves of bread that conform to the upward-curved shape of a flat-footed bowl, a ball of meat, and a square pyxis, likely an ivory box with a lid, which would have contained condiments for the feast. What is most striking about the image, notes Schloen, is how well it was executed. "If you look closely, the quality of the carving is really extraordinary," he says. "There are fingernails on those fingers!"

Kuttamuwa is shown with a beard, wearing a pointed cap with a tassel on it and a fringed cloak, which is how kings were typically portrayed. Even though he was only an official, explains Schloen, for some reason, the artist made no iconographic distinction between royalty and non-royalty. In his left hand, Kuttamuwa holds a pinecone, a symbol of eternal life or regeneration, especially important in the surrounding Amanus Mountain region famous for its pine forests that provided a wealth of timber. In his right hand, Kuttamuwa grasps an Assyrian-style metal fluted drinking vessel, probably made either of silver or gold, and most likely filled with wine.

More coming at SBL…

UPDATE: The link is active!

On the heels of D. Schloen's Saturday ASOR talk and of D. Pardee's presentation on the new Zincirli Inscription at SBL this coming Sunday, the NY Times is publishing an article with photograph (!) tomorrow (11/18) in the Science section.  I will post a link to the article as soon as it is available.  

The official word about the new inscription is finally out!  I've been unable to tell anyone about the new stele since we found it a little more than a week ago; unfortunately though, I am still not allowed to disclose its content (you will have to wait for Dr. Pardee's presentation at SBL).  I will say though that it is well worth the admission price for the Boston meeting, both from the point of view of philology and archaeology!  The press release gives a general idea:

NEW ALPHABETIC INSCRIPTION FROM ZINCIRLI

On July 21, 2008, the Neubauer Expedition to Zincirli, directed by
Prof. David Schloen of the University of Chicago and by associate
director Amir Fink, found an inscribed basalt stele at the site of
Zincirli (pronounced "Zin-jeer-lee") in Gaziantep province in
southeastern Turkey. The remarkably well-preserved stele, 70
centimeters wide and 95 centimeters tall, was found intact in its
original location. It was set into a stone wall with its protruding
tenon still inserted into the stone-paved floor. The alphabetic
inscription on the stele is written in Sam'alian, the language spoken
in the region of Zincirli (ancient Sam'al) during the Iron Age. It
commemorates the life of "Kattammuwa servant of Panamuwa," probably a
high official of King Panamuwa, who reigned during the eighth century
B.C. A bearded figure is depicted on the stele, seated in a chair in
front of a table laden with food. Beside him is a thirteen-line
inscription, elegantly carved in raised relief and preserved in almost
pristine condition nearly three millennia after it was inscribed. It
describes the establishment of the memorial stele and associated
mortuary rites. This stele is unique in its combination of pictorial
and textual features and thus is an important addition to our
knowledge of ancient language and culture. An analysis and translation
of the inscription will be presented by Prof. Dennis Pardee of the
University of Chicago at the November 2008 meeting of the Society for
Biblical Literature in Boston and will be published soon thereafter.

Zincirli is the site of the ancient walled city of Sam'al, capital of
an Iron Age kingdom that inherited both West Semitic and Neo-Hittite
(Luwian) cultural traditions. The 40-hectare (100-acre) site was first
excavated more than a hundred years ago and produced a number of royal
inscriptions and other fascinating finds that are on display in
various museums. Since 2006, Zincirli has been excavated annually by a
team from the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago—the
Neubauer Expedition, a large-scale and long-term project of
archaeological research at this important site.