Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T17:04:56.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Later History of Icenian Electrum Torcs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2014

P. R. Sealey
Affiliation:
Colchester and Essex Museum, Colchester

Extract

Torcs made from the gold/silver alloy known as electrum are among the most striking features of British Iron Age craftsmanship; yet despite the interest they generate, little effort has been directed towards unravelling the problems of their development. This paper seeks to correct this neglect by considering the reasons for the decline of electrum torc art, with particular reference to those found in East Anglia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aiton, J., 1845. ‘Parish of Dolphinton’, New Statistical Account of Scotland 6, 4963.Google Scholar
Allan, J., 1949. ‘The Snettisham find’, Numis. Chron. ser. 6, 8 for 1948, 233–5.Google Scholar
Allen, D. F., 1958. ‘Belgic coins as illustrations of life in the late pre-Roman Iron Age of Britain’, PPS 24, 4363.Google Scholar
Allen, D. F., 1961. ‘The origins of coinage in Britain: a reappraisal’. In Frere, S. S. (ed.), ‘Problems of the Iron Age in Southern Britain’ (University of London Institute of Archaeology, Occasional Paper No. 11), 97308. London.Google Scholar
Allen, D. F., 1963. ‘The Coins of the Coritani (Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles). London.Google Scholar
Allen, D. F., 1966. ‘A Celtic miscellany’, Brit. Numis. J. 34 for 1965, 17.Google Scholar
Allen, D. F., 1970. ‘The coins of the Iceni’, Britannia 1, 133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, D. F., 1971. ‘British potin coins: a review’. In Hill, D. and Jesson, M. (eds), ‘The Iron Age and its Hill-Forts. Papers Presented to Sir Mortimer Wheeler’ (University of Southampton Monograph Series No. 1), 127–54. Southampton.Google Scholar
Allen, D. F., 1975. ‘Cunobelin's gold’, Britannia 6, 119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, D. F., 1976. ‘Wealth, money and coinage in a Celtic society’. In Megaw, J. V. S. (ed.), ‘To Illustrate the Monuments: Essays on Archaeology Presented to Stuart Piggott’, 199208. London.Google Scholar
Anonymous, 1849. ‘Appendix: extracts from the proceedings of the committee’, Norfolk Archaeol. 2, 397408.Google Scholar
Blanchet, A., 1906. ‘Trouvailles’, Revue Numismatique ser. 4, 10, 76–8.Google Scholar
Boon, G. C., 1972. ‘Apercu sur la production des metaux non-ferreux dans la Bretagne romaine’, Apulum 9, 453503.Google Scholar
Boon, G. C., 1976. ‘A Graeco-Roman anchor stock from north Wales’, Archaeol. Atlantica 1, 195–9.Google Scholar
Boon, G. C., 1977a. ‘A Greco-Roman anchor-stock from north Wales’, Antiq. J. 57, 1030.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boon, G. C., 1977b. ‘The Porth Felen anchor-stock’, Int. J. Naut. Archaeol. Underwater Explor. 6, 239–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boon, G. C., 1978. ‘A silver-gilt ornament from a “Carmarthen” trumpet brooch’, Antiq. J. 58, 152–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boon, G. C. and Savory, H. N., 1975. ‘A silver trumpet-brooch with relief decoration, parcel-gilt, from Carmarthen, and a note on the development of the type’, Antiq. J. 55, 4161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brailsford, J. W., 1952. ‘The Snettisham treasure’, Brit. Mus. Quart. 16, 7980.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brailsford, J. W., 1969. ‘A hoard of early Iron Age gold torcs from Ipswich’, Proc. Suffolk Inst. Archaeol. 31 (2), 158–9.Google Scholar
Brailsford, J. W., 1971. ‘The Sedgeford torc’, Brit. Mus. Quart. 35, 16–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brailsford, J. W., 1975. Early Celtic Masterpieces from Britain in the British Museum. London.Google Scholar
Brailsford, J. W. and Stapley, J. E., 1972. ‘The Ipswich torcs’, PPS 38, 219–34.Google Scholar
Bunbury, H., 1834. ‘Roman and British antiquities discovered at Mildenhall, in Suffolk’, Archaeologia 25, 609–12.Google Scholar
Burns, J. E., 1971. ‘Additional torcs from Snettisham, Norfolk’, PPS 37 (1), 228–9.Google Scholar
Bushe-Fox, J. P., 1915. ’Excavations at Hengistbury Head, Hampshire, in 1911–12, (Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, No. 3.). London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, R. R., 1940. ‘The Iron Age in Norfolk and Suffolk’, Archaeol. J. 96, 1113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, R. R., 1950. ‘Notes on recent archaeological discoveries in Norfolk (1943–8)’, Norfolk Archaeol. 30 (2), 156–9.Google Scholar
Clarke, R. R., 1951. ‘A Celtic torc-terminal from North Creake, Norfolk’, Archaeol. J. 106, 5961.Google Scholar
Clarke, R. R., 1955. ‘The Early Iron Age treasure from Snettisham, Norfolk’, PPS 20, 2786.Google Scholar
Clarke, R. R., 1960. East Anglia. London.Google Scholar
Corder, P., and Hawkes, C. F. C., 1940. ‘A panel of Celtic ornament from Elmswell, East Yorkshire’, Antiq. J. 20, 338–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowen, J. D., 1935. ‘The Cairnmuir gold terminal: a parallel, and a possible explanation of its use’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 69, 455–9.Google Scholar
Craddock, P. T., 1977. ‘The composition of the copper alloys used by the Greek, Etruscan and Roman civilisations. 2. The Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greeks’, J. Archaeol. Sci. 4 (2), 103–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunliffe, B. W., 1978a. Iron Age Communities in Britain. London.Google Scholar
Cunliffe, B. W., 1978b. Hengistbury Head. London.Google Scholar
Davies, O., 1935. Roman Mines in Europe. Oxford.Google Scholar
Dolley, R. H. M., 1955. ‘Appendix: the speculum (“tin”) coins in hoard C’. In Clarke, R. R., ‘The Early Iron Age treasure from Snettisham, Norfolk’, PPS 20, 7286.Google Scholar
Domergue, C., 1970. ‘Les mines d'or du nord-ouest de la péninsule Ibérique’. In González, A. V. (ed.), ‘Legio VII Gemina’ (Coloquio internacional de Romanistas celebrado con ocasion del XIX centenario de los origénes de la ciudad de Léon), 253–86. Léon.Google Scholar
Dunnett, B. R. K., 1975. The Trinovantes. London.Google Scholar
Duval, P.-M. and Hawkes, C. F. C. (eds), 1976. Celtic Art in Ancient Europe: Five Protohistoric Centuries. London.Google Scholar
Feachem, R. W., 1960. ‘The “Cairnmuir” hoard from Netherurd, Peeblesshire’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 91, 112–6.Google Scholar
Fox, C., 1923. The Archaeology of the Cambridge Region. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Fox, C., 1958. Pattern and Purpose: a Survey of Early Celtic Art in Britain. Cardiff.Google Scholar
Frere, S. S., 1941. ‘A Claudian site at Needham, Norfolk’, Antiq. J. 21, 4055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelling, P. S., 1977. ‘Excavations on Pilsdon Pen, Dorset, 1964–71’, PPS 43, 263–86.Google Scholar
Green, E. B., 1962a. ‘The Hockwold treasure’, Apollo 77, 128–9.Google Scholar
Green, E. B., 1962b. ‘The Hockwold treasure, Norfolk’, Archaeol. News Letter 7, 154.Google Scholar
Harrod, H., 1855. ‘On horse-trappings found at Westhall’, Archaeologia 36 (2), 454–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haselgrove, C. C., 1978. ‘Supplementary Gazetteer of Find-Spots of Celtic Coins in Britain, 1977’ (University of London Institute of Archaeology, Occasional Paper No. na). London.Google Scholar
Hawkes, C. F. C., 1941. ‘An iron torc from Spettisbury Rings, Dorset’, Archaeol. J. 97, 112–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodges, H., 1976. Artifacts: an Introduction to Early Materials and Technology. London.Google Scholar
Hogg, A. H. A., 1962. ‘Cam Boduan and Tre'r Ceiri, excavations at two Caernarvonshire hill-forts’, Archaeol. J. 117, 139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, H., 1907. ‘Report on the excavations carried out at Tre'r Ceiri in 1906’, Archaeol. Cambrensis ser. 6, 7, 3862.Google Scholar
Jones, R. F. J. and Bird, D. G., 1972. ‘Roman gold-mining in north-west Spain, II: workings on the Rio Duerna’, J. Roman Stud. 62, 5974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, R. S., 1976. ‘Metal-working in north Wales during the Roman period’, Bull. Board Celtic Stud. 27 (I), 127–47.Google Scholar
Kent, J. P. C., 1978. ‘The London area in the late Iron Age: an interpretation of the earliest coins’. In Bird, J. and others (ed), ‘Collectanea Londiniensia: Studies Presented to Ralph Merrifield’ (London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, Special Paper No. 2), 53–9. London.Google Scholar
Laver, P. G., 1927. ‘The excavation of a tumulus at Lexden, Colchester’, Archaeologia 76, 241–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, J., 1857. ‘Letter from John Lawson of Cairnmuir, Esq., to Sir Walter Scott, Baronet, describing some golden ornaments found in March 1806, near the house of New Cairnmuir, Peeblesshire’, Archaeol. Scotica 4, 217–9.Google Scholar
Lewis, P. R. and Jones, G. B. D., 1969. ‘The Dolaucothi gold mines I: the surface evidence’, Antiq. J. 49, 244–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, P. R. and Jones, G. B. D., 1970. ‘Roman gold-mining in north-west Spain’, J. Roman Stud. 60, 169–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lins, P. A. and Oddy, W. A., 1975. ‘The origins of mercury-gilding’, J. Archaeol. Sci. 2, 365–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macalister, R. A. S., 1949. The Archaeology of Ireland. London.Google Scholar
MacGregor, M., 1962. ‘The early Iron Age metalwork hoard from Stanwick, N. R. Yorks.’, PPS 28, 1757.Google Scholar
MacGregor, M., 1976. Early Celtic Art in North Britain: a Study of Decorative Metalwork from the 3rd Century BC to the 3rd Century AD. Leicester.Google Scholar
Mack, R. P., 1975. The Coinage of Ancient Britain. London.Google Scholar
Maryon, H., 1944. ‘The Bawsey torc’, Antiq.J. 24, 149–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, J., 1970. ‘Dragonby: an interim report on excavations on an Iron Age and Romano-British site near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, 1964–9’, Antiq. J. 50, 222–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Megaw, J. V. S., 1970. Art of the European Iron Age: a Study of the Elusive Image. Bath.Google Scholar
Megaw, J. V. S., 1971. ‘A group of later Iron Age collars or neck-rings from western Britain’, Brit. Mus. Quart. 35, 145–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nash, D. E. M., 1975. ‘The chronology of Celtic coinage in Gaul: the Arvernian “Hegemony” reconsidered’, Numis. Chron., ser. 7, 15, 204–18.Google Scholar
Owles, E. J., 1969. ‘The Ipswich gold torcs’, Antiquity 43, 208–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owles, E. J., 1971. ‘The sixth Ipswich torc’, Antiquity 45, 294–6.Google Scholar
Peacock, D. P. S., 1971. ‘Roman amphorae in pre-Roman Britain’. In Hill, D. and Jesson, M. (ed.), ‘The Iron Age and its Hill-Forts. Papers Presented to Sir Mortimer Wheeler’ (University of Southampton Monograph Series No. 1), 161–88. Southampton.Google Scholar
Pirzio Biroli Stefanelli, L., 1965. ‘I tesori di argenteria rinvenuti in Gran Bretagna ed in Irlanda’, Archaeol. Class. 17, 92–125, 271–83.Google Scholar
Roberts, R. P., 1977. ‘A die study of the Gallo-Belgic A, B, and C coin series in Britain’ B. A. thesis, University of London Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Rodwell, W. J., 1976. ‘Coinage, oppida and the rise of Belgic power in south-eastern Britain’. In Cunliffe, B. W. and Rowley, T. (eds), ‘Oppida: the Beginnings of Urbanisation in Barbarian Europe’ (British Archaeological Reports, Supplementary Series No. 11), 181367. Oxford.Google Scholar
Roth, B., 1908. ‘A hoard of staters and “gold bullets”, recently discovered in France: with special reference to the ancient British staters of the type of Evans, plate B, no. 8’, Brit. Numis. J. 4, 220–8.Google Scholar
Scheers, S., 1973. ‘Coinage and currency of the Belgic tribes during the Gallic War’, Brit. Numis. J. 41, 16.Google Scholar
Smith, J. A., 1870. ‘Notice of a remarkable bronze ornament with horns found in Galloway, now at Abbots-ford: also of a bronze ornament like a swine's head found in Banffshire’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 7, 334–57.Google Scholar
Smith, R. A., 1909. ‘A hoard of metal found at Santon Downham, Suffolk’, Proc. Cambridge Antiq. Soc. 13, 146–63.Google Scholar
Spratling, M. G., 1972. Southern British Decorated Bronzes of the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age. Ph. D., University of London Institute of Archaeology.Google Scholar
Spratling, M. G., 1973. ‘The Iron Age settlement of Gussage All Saints. Part II: the bronze foundary’, Antiquity 47, 117–30.Google Scholar
Spratling, M. G., 1975. ‘Fragments of a lorica segmentata in the hoard from Santon, NorfolkBritannia 6, 206–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stead, I. M., 1965. The La Tène Cultures of Eastern Yorkshire. York.Google Scholar
Stead, I. M., 1967. ‘A La Tène III burial at Welwyn Garden City’, Archaeologia 101, 162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, R. B. K., 1966. ‘Metal-work and some other objects in Scotland and their cultural affinities’. In Rivet, A. L. F. (ed), The Iron Age in Northern Britain, 1744. Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Strong, D. E., 1966. Greek and Roman Gold and Silver Plate. London.Google Scholar
Strong, D. E., 1967. Report on the silver cup. In Stead, I. M. ‘A La Tène III burial at Welwyn Garden City’, Archaeologia 101, 20–2.Google Scholar
Syme, R., 1969. ‘Pliny the procurator’, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 73, 201–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Syme, R., 1970. ‘The conquest of north-west Spain’. In González, A. V. (ed.), ‘Legio VII Gemina’ (Coloquio internacional de Romanistas celebrado con ocasión del XIX centenario de los origénes de la ciudad de Léon), 79107. Léon.Google Scholar
Toynbee, J. M. C., 1964. Art in Britain under the Romans. Oxford.Google Scholar
Tylecote, R. F., 1962. Metallurgy in Archaeology: a Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British Isles. London.Google Scholar
Wacher, J. S., 1978. Roman Britain. London.Google Scholar
Wake, T., 1942. ‘Some recent archaeological discoveries in Norfolk’, Norfolk Archaeol. 28 (1), 23–8.Google Scholar
Webster, G., 1978. Boudica: the British Revolt against Rome A.D. 60. London.Google Scholar
Werner, A. E., and Barker, H., 1967. Report on the scientific examination of fragments of the silver cup. In Stead, I. M., ‘A La Tène III burial at Welwyn Garden City’, Archaeologia 101, 23.Google Scholar
Wilson, D., 1851. The Archaeology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland. Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Wilson, D. R., 1973. ‘Roman Britain in 1972. Part I: sites explored’, Britannia 4, 271323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar