Friday, September 15, 2023

A worker at a water company in Cavandi, Asturias, northwest Spain, uncovered two 2,500-year-old gold torcs while working on the municipal water pipes two weeks ago.

They are of extraordinarily high quality and feature a striking diversity of goldsmithing techniques and decorative motifs, including casting, filigree, granulation, welding, and a variety of geometric designs.




Archaeologists made it to the find site that very afternoon. The confirmed the object was a gold torc, then found six fragments of a second torc on the same hillside. The fragments formed a complete second gold torc. Both torcs were then swiftly transported to the museum’s laboratory for conservation.



The torc first discovered is a rigid, c-shaped necklace in the Astur-Norgalaico style of the Celtic tribes in what is now Asturias and Galicia. It is formed of a central rod with spirals of gold wound around it and has large double vasiform terminals. 

Because of its size, quality, finish and technical difficulty, the first torc is considered an exceptional example of goldsmithing from the northwest of the Iberian peninsula during the Iron Age. 

The second piece has a rectangular section with double vasiform terminals engraved with sunburst designs on the flat ends. Both of them have wear on areas that would have been in contact with the neck, so we know that they were actively used for some time.



5 comments:

  1. Finders keepers does not exist in socialist countries.

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    Replies
    1. Had a girlfriend who found some indian pottery and notified "authorities." They kicked her out, closed the area and never even said thank you.

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  2. We would be rolling around in the dirt if they told me "they" were going to take them for "safe keeping".

    Not from me you're not.

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  3. ...transported to the museum’s laboratory for "conservation"

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  4. Celtic stuff in Northern Spain? This just goes to show how much I do not know.

    ReplyDelete