Dr Tess Machling, archaeologist and Roland Williamson, museum replica maker
Dr Machling described the speakers’ recent research on Iron Age gold torcs. Close examination of the Netherurd torc from the Borders shows that its large terminals are constructed from three parts, rather than one single casting as previously thought. The terminals of the Snettisham Great Torc and Snettisham Grotesque Torc were manufactured in the same way, despite being previously described as castings by the British Museum. The Grotesque Torc is believed to be approximately 200 years older than the Great Torc, suggesting that this was a traditional technology. Comparison of several different torcs showed how different methods of manufacture were used, including casting and the use of sheet gold to create tubular torcs. Similar patterns of decoration on the Netherurd and Newark torcs, and their overall design, suggest the work of the same craftsman over a period of 20–30 years and suggest the possibility that both were made in North Britain.
The remarkably dense distribution of torcs in East Anglia, especially at Snettisham, where a total of 218 broken and unbroken torcs have been found in 14 hoards, has been taken to indicate a manufacturing source in East Anglia, but the speakers drew attention to the close match between the distribution of gold sources across Britain – all north and west of a line drawn from the Wash to the Isle of Purbeck – and the distribution of the better-made torcs. They suggest that the better torcs were manufactured in the north and west of Britain by a skilled group of craftsmen.
The Snettisham hoards may represent a ‘museum’ of torcs, dating over a period of approximately 300 years, which were gathered together in East Anglia, for reasons unknown but possibly connected to the Iron Age Iceni royal family, whose power base was in this area.
Dr Machling went on to describe how the project had been working with several leading modern master craftsmen and craftswomen. As a result of this, the Snettisham ‘wire deposits’ gathered together on a single larger ring (like a key-ring) were identified as ‘wire swatches’ as kept today by modern craftsmen for reference purposes for the manufacture of different styles of wire. The modern Japanese metalworking technique of ‘uchidashi’ was also recognised in the decoration on some torcs. In contrast to the ‘repoussé’ technique (for example the Battersea Shield) where designs are hammered out from the reverse of the object, uchidashi designs are hammered down from the front of the object, leaving a finely-pitted ‘orange-peel’ like surface on the reverse of the metal.
Roland Williamson described his experimental work on a 10gm piece of gold. By melting it to make a short rod, he was able to hammer it on a small anvil to make a 5-inch length of wire of the same diameter used in the Snettisham Great Torc, in a relatively short time. He was also able to produce a very thin (0.1mm) but flexible coin-shaped disc, demonstrating how sheet gold could be produced to produce hollow, tubular torcs.
D.F.D.