Image: Towton Torc YORYM 2013 1017

Description: A gold-alloy bracelet with loop terminals. The bracelet is comprised of two ropes plaited together; each rope is made up of two wires twisted together. Each terminal is formed of two loops. The outside surface of the terminals has been filled with a lower melting temperature gold-alloy containing approximately 16% more copper than the rest of the bracelet. The overall effect is to transform double loop terminals into single loop terminals. Metal content at the surface: 55% gold; 38% silver; and at least 7% copper. The form of the main body of the bracelet, although not the most common, is seen on full-sized torcs, such as the torc from Middleton, Norfolk (Hautenauve 2005: 237). The neckring of the gold-alloy torc from Hoard J at Snettisham is similarly constructed (Stead 1991: Figure 3). Like 2011 T326, the terminals of this torc have also been made into a single rather than a double loop. The distribution of torcs is centred in northwest Norfolk. There is also a smaller concentration of finds from the west Midlands. The location of this find is therefore unusual but the recent find from Newark, Nottinghamshire may hint at a more northerly distribution than previously thought. Torcs are most often found in dry land deposits. However, votive deposition of artefacts in water is also a well-known Iron Age practice. This object is from the same findspot as YORYM : 2011.300 and may well have been deposited at the same time, as part of a larger hoard.
Title: Iron age Torc found at Towton
Credit: This file originated on the York Museums Trust Online Collection. YMT hosted a GLAMwiki partnership in 2013/14. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing.
Author: Photographed by: York Museums Trust Staff
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