01-20-2015, 07:42 PM
Here's the original, photographed this morning on display in the British Museum:
[attachment=11616]IMG_2904.JPG[/attachment]
The display caption suggests a date of AD300-900, although this also includes the various items of jewellery included with it. It also suggests that the torque is itself an item of female jewellery - the two little rings at the bottom were presumably intended to hold something suspended beneath it, either a gemstone pendant or a medallion of some kind, perhaps not unlike this piece from the Asiut hoard.
However, as Robert's images show, some of these later military/ceremonial torques also seem to have featured medallions or other pendants.
[attachment=11616]IMG_2904.JPG[/attachment]
The display caption suggests a date of AD300-900, although this also includes the various items of jewellery included with it. It also suggests that the torque is itself an item of female jewellery - the two little rings at the bottom were presumably intended to hold something suspended beneath it, either a gemstone pendant or a medallion of some kind, perhaps not unlike this piece from the Asiut hoard.
However, as Robert's images show, some of these later military/ceremonial torques also seem to have featured medallions or other pendants.
Nathan Ross
