ry
in the second city of Troy. This find has led to a good deal of
speculative opinions varying as to whether the model of the torc was
imported into Ireland from the south, or whether the Irish gold could
have reached the Mediterranean in pre-Mycenaean times.[30] Torcs of
this type were made by folding two thin ribbons of gold along the
middle at a right angle; they were then attached with some kind of
resinous flux, apex to apex, and twisted together. In some cases,
instead of two folded ribbons a flat one and two halves of another
were used, after being fastened together, the twisting being done in
the same way. In some of the Irish examples the body of the torc is
plain, or was grooved to simulate the appearance of the twisted torc.
A peculiar feature of these torcs is the large hooks with which they
are provided. It must be noted that whereas twisted torcs of bronze
are fairly common in England and France there is only one bronze torc
in the Irish National Collection, and, as mentioned above, the
provenance of this is doubtful. The dating of these twisted torcs
is a matter of difficulty, as there are only two instances of their
having been found in association with bronze objects, one in the case
of the Grunty Fen torc which was discovered with three bronze
palstaves, and another found at Fresne la Mere, near Falaise,
Normandy, which was found with a bronze razor and other objects of
bronze. Such evidence as exists, therefore, would place them in the
late Bronze Age, probably somewhere about 1000 B.C., but certain
varieties of torcs, as we shall see, continued in use as late as the
first century. The area of distribution of gold torcs of the Tara type
in Ireland, England and France is very limited, none having been found
in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, or Spain and
Portugal.[31] It has been suggested that the gold of which all these
torcs were composed came from the Wicklow Mountains,[32] and in view
of the extreme wealth of Ireland in gold, as evinced by the number of
gold ornaments which are still constantly found, this may be
considered probable.

[28] Proceedings Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society,
vol. lv, 1909, pt. ii, pp. 66-84.

[29] Cambridge Antiquarian Society's Communications, vol. xii, p. 96.

[30] Dechelette, "Manuel d'Archeologie," vol. ii, p. 355, note.

[31] Congres Archeologique Francais, Beauvais, 1905, p. 294.

[32] Proc. Soc. Antiquaries of Lo