Join Bahadır Yıldırım, administrative director of the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, and illustrator Catherine S. Alexander as they discuss an incomplete marble menorah from the ancient Synagogue at Sardis in Türkiye.

In 2021, during photography of marble finds from the Synagogue for a major publication on the building, Yıldırım identified a missing fragment of the menorah in the excavation compound depot at Sardis among finds excavated over 50 years earlier. Alexander will show how she uses conventions of archaeological illustration to show what is present and what is missing in an object, interpreting and drawing it in a way that brings it to life for the viewer. Learn more about the challenges of updating documentation and how Alexander applies new techniques to her illustrations as more is discovered about an object.