Iron Age, about 75 BC
Found at Ken Hill, Snettisham, Norfolk, England
The most famous object from Iron Age Britain
This torc was made with great skill and tremendous care in the first half of the first century BC. It is one of the most elaborate golden objects made in the ancient world. Not even Greek, Roman or Chinese gold workers living 2000 years ago made objects of this complexity.
The torc is made from just over a kilogram of gold mixed with silver. It is made from sixty-four threads. Each thread was 1.9 mm wide. Eight threads were twisted together at a time to make 8 separate ropes of metal. These were then twisted around each to make the final torc. The ends of the torc were cast in moulds. The hollow ends were then welded onto the ropes.
The torc was found when the field at Ken Hill, Snettisham was ploughed in 1950. Other hoards were found in the same field in 1948 and 1990. The torc was buried tied together with a complete bracelet by another torc. A coin found in caught in the ropes of the Great Torc suggests the hoard was buried around 75 BC.
Diameter: 20 cm
Weight: 1080 g
Gift of the National Art Collections Fund
P&EE 1951 4-2 2
Room 50, Later Bronze Age & Celtic Europe, case 19
S. James and V. Rigby, Britain and the Celtic Iron Age (London, The British Miseim Press, 1997), p.26, plate 28.
I.M. Stead, 'The Snettisham Treasure: excavations in 1990', Antiquity, 65 (1991)
.M. Stead, Celtic art (London, The British Museum Press, 1987, revised edition 1997).
R. Rainbird Clarke, 'The Early Iron Age treasure from Snettisham, Norfolk', Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 20 (1954)
Related objects and informations:
Fragment of a tubular torc from Snettisham
The Winchester hoard
Horned helmet
Fragment from a gold decorated torc
Silver torc from the Snettisham hoard L
Torc from the Snettisham hoard G
Snettisham hoard F
Gold torc
Gold torcs from the Ipswich Hoard
Iron Age torcs
Britain in the Iron Age
The Snettisham Hoards
Iron Age Britain
Boudica
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