Editing Torc (section)

{{other uses}}
{{short description|Rigid, usually twisted ring worn around the neck or arm, often of precious metal}}
[[File:Torque à tampons Somme-Suippe Musée Saint-Remi 120208.jpg|thumb|[[Bronze]] 4th-century&nbsp;BC buffer-type torc from France]]
[[File:Dying Gaul (Head).jpg|thumb|''[[The Dying Gaul]]'', a Roman statue with a torc in the [[Capitoline Museums]] in Rome]]
A '''torc''', also spelled '''torq''' or '''torque''', is a large rigid or stiff [[neck ring]] in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few have [[mortice and tenon]] locking catches to close them. Many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove. 

Torcs have been found in [[Scythian]], [[Illyria]]n,<ref>The Illyrians by J. J. Wilkes, 1992, {{ISBN|0-631-19807-5}}, page 223, "Illyrian chiefs wore heavy bronze torques"</ref> [[Thrace|Thracian]], [[Celts|Celtic]], and other cultures of the [[European Iron Age]] from around the 8th century&nbsp;BC to the 3rd century&nbsp;AD. For Iron Age Celts, the gold torc seems to have been a key object. It identified the wearer—apparently usually female until the 3rd century BC, thereafter usually but not exclusively male—as a person of high rank, and many of the finest works of ancient [[Celtic art]] are torcs. Celtic torcs disappeared in the [[Migration Period]], but during the [[Viking Age]] torc-style metal necklaces, mainly in silver, came back into fashion.<ref>Jim Cornish, [http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/v_hoards.htm Elementary: Viking Hoards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014141731/http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/v_hoards.htm |date=2007-10-14 }}, on the Centre for Distance Learning & Innovation Website</ref> Similar neck-rings are also part of the jewellery styles of various other cultures and periods.