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Description: | A Middle Bronze Age copper alloy spiral-twisted torc dating in the Taunton period (1400-1250BC). It measures 211mm widthways, 193mm longways and is max.14.95mm thick. It weighs 537g, to the nearest 1g.The main body of the torc is square in section with accentuated edges and twisted rather tightly (the torc comprises 29 twists). It is thickest at the centre (14.95x13.78mm) and narrows on either side to 10.33x10.24mm and 10.18x10.49mm. From here the plain, circular-sectioned and flat-ended terminals extend, 9.58mm and 9.36mm in diameter, narrowing to 8.10mm and 8.46mm. Both flat ends are slightly concave with a circular depression at the centre, c.3mm in diameter. The torc is fashioned in such a way so that one end lies inside the circle of the torc as created by the other end.The patina is smooth, shiny and a light green-blue in colour, but with some pitting and areas of brighter blue corrosion, suggesting it could be quite active.A similar torc, but smaller and with hooked terminals, can be found in the Durnford Hoard (Salisbury Museum collections).Adam Gwilt, curator, National Museum of Wales, comments: 'Looking at Ben Roberts's article (PPS 73, 2007) on Ornaments in Britain 1400-1100BC, his listing and distribution maps show that earlier bronze pre-cursors to gold torcs do tend to cluster across parts of southern and eastern England. The Durnford hoard is included in his catalogue and Wiltshire is within his Zone B with tendencies towards frequent gold and bronze spiral twisted torcs'.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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