Editing Torc (section)

==Shapes and decoration==
[[File:Prosnes tombe B82 300 avant JC 3836.JPG|thumb|French fused-buffer type with "muff", c. 350&nbsp;BC]]
[[File:Torque or strié.jpg|thumb|Sleek Bronze Age torc in striated gold, northern France, c. 1200–1000 BC, 794 grams]]
Most Achaemenid torcs are thin single round bars with matching animal heads as the terminals, facing each other at the front. Some Early Celtic forms depart from the normal style of torc by lacking a break at the throat, and instead are heavily decorated at the continuous front, with animal elements and short rows of "[[baluster]]s", rounded projections coming to a blunt point; these are seen both on the sculpted torc worn by the stone "[[Glauberg]] Warrior" and a gold torc (illustrated) found in the same [[oppidum]]. 

Later Celtic torcs nearly all return to having a break at the throat and strong emphasis on the two terminals.  The Vix torc has two very finely made winged horses standing on fancy platforms projecting sideways just before the terminals, which are flattened balls under lions' feet. Like other elite Celtic pieces in the "orientalizing" style, the decoration shows Greek influence but not a classical style, and the piece may have been made by Greeks in the Celtic taste, or a "Graeco-Etruscan workshop", or by Celts with foreign training.<ref>Laings, 31</ref>

Spiral ribbon torcs, usually with minimal terminals, continue a Bronze Age type and are found in the [[Stirling Hoard]] from Scotland, and elsewhere:<ref>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/golden-torc-on-display-at-museum-29430511.html Example found in Northern Ireland in 2013]</ref> "Although over 110 identifiable British [includes Ireland] ribbon torcs are known, the dating of these simple, flexible ornaments is elusive", perhaps indicating "a long-lived preference for ribbon torcs, which continued for over 1,000 years".<ref>Taylor, 63</ref> The terminals were often slightly flared plain round cylinders which were folded back to hook round each other to fasten the torc at the throat. Other Celtic torcs may use various ways of forming the hoop: plain or patterned round bars, two or more bars twisted together, thin round rods (or thick wire) wound round a core, or woven gold wire. A rarer type twists a single bar with an X profile.

Except in British looped terminals, the terminals of Iron Age torcs are usually formed separately. The "buffer" form of terminal was the most popular in finds from modern France and Germany, with some "fused buffer" types opening at the rear or sides.  In both buffer types and those with projecting fringes of ornament, decoration in low [[relief]] often continues back round the hoop as far as the midpoint of the side view.  In Iberian torcs thin gold bars are often wound round a core of base metal, with the rear section a single round section with a decorated surface.

The c. 150 torcs found in the lands of the [[Iberian Celts]] of [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] favoured terminals ending in balls coming to a point or small buffer ("pears"), or a shape with a double moulding called ''scotiae''.<ref>González-Ruibal covers these in detail in the section "Torcs" and the "catalogue" following.  The ancient territory of the [[Gallaeci]] extended further east along the coast than the modern province, and the linguistic make-up of the region remains controversial.</ref> The pointed ball is also found in northern Italy, where the hoops often end by being turned back upon themselves so that the terminals face out to the sides, perhaps enabling closure by hooking round. Both of these mostly used plain round bars or thin rods wound round a core.  In the terminals of British torcs loops or rings are common, and the main hoop may be two or more round bars twisted together, or several strands each made up of twisted wire. Decoration of the terminals in the finest examples is complex but all abstract. In these two types the hoop itself normally has no extra decoration, though the large torc in the Irish [[Broighter Gold]] hoard is decorated all round the hoop, the only Irish example decorated in this way.