Ancient gold torc found in bog in Northern Ireland

In March 2012 news broke of ancient gold. A treasure hunter with a metal detector unearthed a 3,000-year-old piece of ornate gold jewellery from a bog in Northern Ireland. Ronald Johnston first thought the Bronze Age torc was an old car spring. The coiled metal, typically worn around the neck or waist, would actually have belonged to a Celt who had “access to extreme wealth,” said Armagh County Museum’s Andrea Kennedy. For the Iron Age Celts the gold torc was a key object, identifying the wearer as a person of high rank.

The torc would date from 1300 to 1100 B.C. A symbol of the Celts’ “delight in gaudy ostentation,” according to the ancient Greek philosopher Poseidonius, torcs carried distinctive designs created by local blacksmiths. The word torc comes from the Latin for “to twist” or torque.