Gold-alloy bracelet with loop terminals. The main body of the bracelet is made up of two wires, circular in cross-section, twisted together. There are traces of solder on one of the terminals and one of the twisted wires.
Metal content: 80-84% gold; 12-14% silver; and at least 4% copper.
Although this form of bracelet is by no means common, a number of similar size and form are known from the late Iron Age site of Snettisham (Stead 1991). These are made of precious metals and copper alloy. At Snettisham well over 200 complete full-size torcs, as well as bracelets, rings and other fragments have been uncovered in multiple hoards over the past 60 years. Deposition at the site is thought to date from circa 100 – 70 BC. The metal composition of the bracelet is also similar to some of the torcs analysed from Snettisham, as are the techniques of manufacture.
The distribution of torcs is centred in northwest Norfolk. There is also a smaller concentration of finds from the west Midlands. The location of this find is therefore unusual but the recent find from Newark, Nottinghamshire may hint at a more northerly distribution than previously thought. Torcs are most often found in dry land deposits. However, votive deposition of artefacts in water is also a well-known Iron Age practice.
This object is from the same findspot as YORYM : 2013.1017 and may well have been deposited at the same time, as part of a larger hoard.
