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A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a rigid piece of personal adornment made from twisted metal. It can be worn as an arm ring, a circular neck ring, or a necklace that is open-ended at the front. Smaller torcs worn around the wrist are called bracelets instead. Torcs are a type of Scythian, Thracian and Celtic jewellery, produced in the European Iron Age, from around the 8th century BC to the 3rd century AD. The word comes from Latin torques, from torqueo, to twist, because of the twisted shape of the collar. The ends of ancient torcs typically bore sculpted ornaments, frequently globes, cubes, or animal heads, and, less commonly, human figures. The body of the necklace was usually but not always wrapped. Although they were most often neck-rings, there were also bracelets with this shape. Torcs were made from intertwined metal strands, usually gold or bronze, less often silver. The Celtic torc disappears in the migration period, but during the Viking Age torc-style metal necklaces came back into fashion.[1] The torc first appears in Scythian art, from the Early Iron Age, introduced to Celtic Europe around 500 BC (see also Thraco-Cimmerian).
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