Moulsford Torc (2nd torc)
Late Bronze Age, about 1150 to 750BC
The second Moulsford Torc
This gold torc or neck ornament was found by metal detecting in 2001 in a field near Moulsford, Oxfordshire. It was the second gold torc found in this area. The first torc was found in 1960 and is also in the Museum's collection (see related object link below). Dating from the late Bronze Age – about 1150 to 750BC – the torc would have belonged to an important person, and probably symbolised wealth and power.
The undecorated gold torc is made from a solid heavy bar of gold, oval in cross section, which is thickest in the middle and tapers towards its plain flat ends. Only five examples of this type are known from Britain. It is now distorted asymmetrically so that one arm is more extended than the other, and the middle of the bar bears the scars from chisel blows made in antiquity.
Museum object number