torc
- Museum number
- 1858,0320.2
- Description
-
Gold alloy ribbon torc. The torc was made by beating an ingot into a flat band that was then twisted from left to right. The body narrows slightly from the middle to the ends. The terminals, one circular and one rectangular in section, are bent-back to form hooks. One of them has a spherical knob.
- Production date
-
1400BC-1100BC
-
300BC-100BC
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 82.13 millimetres
-
Weight: 7.70 grammes
-
Thickness: 0.36 millimetres (flat band)
-
Thickness: 1.20 millimetres (terminal)
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Thickness: 5.02 millimetres (twisted body centre)
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Thickness: 3.01 millimetres (twisted body end)
- Curator's comments
- The size of the torc might suggest that it was an armlet or bracelet rather than a neck ornament.
The torc is part of the Law Farm hoard that was found when ploughing in the spring of 1857 about 40 yards from the base of a large barrow. It was seemingly covered by a small cairn.
The hoard consisted of at least 36 torcs. These were dispersed at the time of discovery and apparently some were destroyed or lost. Seven torcs from the hoard are in the British Museum ( (WG 12-14, 1857 0729.1 and 1858 03.20 1-3) with others in museums including Marischal Museum, Aberdeen and National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh.
There is a considerable debate regarding the dating of Ribbon Torcs either to the Middle Bronze Age or Iron Age on the basis of compositional analyses, terminal forms and limited contextual evidence as from Somerset, Co. Galway and Dooyork, Co Mayo, Ireland and the Blair Drummond hoard, Stirling, Scotland. The emerging typological consensus places loosely coiled torcs with simple hook terminals from Ireland in the Middle Bronze Age whilst tightly coiled torcs with knobbed terminals in Britain and Ireland are placed in the Iron Age (Fraser Hunter, Mary Cahill, Jody Joy and Trevor Cowie pers. comm. 9/12/11). However, the presence of objects that do not conform to this binary typology means that dating still relies on good contextual evidence. As a consequence, two ribbon torcs have been dated to the Middle Bronze Age and the remaining 12 ribbon torcs have been placed in the undiagnostic section with a possible/probable Iron Age date.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2014 14 Mar-15 Jun, Glasgow, Hunterian Art Gallery, Scottish Gold
1990-1991 17 Nov-1 Apr, Glasgow, Kelvingrove Museum, Scotland Creates: Five Thousand Years of Scottish Art
- Acquisition date
- 1858
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1858,0320.2