Dr Tess Machling

We don't often get to see individual people in prehistory, but these 3 #torcs were made or finished by same person, 2300 years ago!

Tiny punched tool marks look random, but this person has a very specific way of working & deco patterns that they use & we've now seen this on 3 torcs from very different places!

This means 3 torcs must have been made within 30-40 years of each other, within the lifetime of a single maker - a person that we now know by the way they decorated torcs.

#Archaeology

Nov 25, 2022 at 7:33amWeb
Show threadKevin DanksNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling I love these. Do you see any progression in either the maker's skill or the design between the three torcs? For example, I imagine an 'apprentice piece' would be quite different from something produced by someone with decades of experience.
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@kevindanks on a couple of the torcs we think we can see apprentice hands at work in the deco (there's a couple of panels which are not brilliant and a bit more hesitant), but overall, these are accomplished pieces, made using different methods, but with the same huge skill. These are 3 out of c.400 torcs we've got represented by complete torcs or bits from Britain and Ireland.
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022

@kevindanks the really big difference is between the gold sheet/ composite sheet and cast torcs and the purely cast ones, which are awful!! Like they were trying to create something straightforward in sheet but almost impossible in casting, and which failed every time.

And thank you! You've given me an idea for tomorrow's toot!!

Show threadCarolineCherryNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling @kevindanks This is fascinating. I cannot imagine being able to fully cast something with such minute details. I’m only a potter but the work on these is fascinating . Truly exquisite . Is it possible to estimate time taken in making these pieces. Also were they found together?
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@stroppypanda @kevindanks these were found in different places, and had travelled, or were taken, or were made in different places
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@stroppypanda @kevindanks sorry.. just seen the rest of your question! The goldsmiths we've worked with think a week for each terminal, then a couple of weeks for the wires, so one person, about a month, although probable you'd have a couple of people working on wires etc so could be sorted shorter time.
Show threadPete McquailNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling
Sounds like an early attempt at mass production for the 'consumer' market.
Was the casting done using lost wax?
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@pmcquail yes, lost wax.
Show threadRavensrod 🫖 🍰Nov 25, 2022
@tess_machling
Always the same with the Gauls, torq torq torq 😁
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@ravensrod that's me, torcing sheet all the time!! 😉
Show threadAndròmedaNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling How interesting! If the three torcs were founded in different places, do you think the crafter lived in his own place and his works were spreaded all around by different sellers or was he living in those different places during his life? (Sorry, hard for me to be fluent in English)
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022

@CiutatAliena we don't know... it could be a travelling workshop (gold doesn't need much kit), they could have been traded/ exchanged/gifted....

My feeling is that the top goldsmiths were working for multiple people... but that's difficult to prove.

(And your English is excellent!)

Show threadAndròmedaNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling My writer's mind would like to know his story 😊... It makes sense to think in a travelling workshop, or even in a so good craftsman that his pieces were wanted all along the country... Fascinating! And thank you, I feel like heaven here in Mastodon because I find kind and interesting peaple like you and I can practice my English too. Waiting for your new toots!
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022

@CiutatAliena yes! I would love to know who they were, how they learnt, who from.

And I'm loving the chance to talk to people here - it's all very positive!!

Show threadAndròmedaNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling To share knowledge and learn from others makes all of us more open minded and better in our fields, isn't it? That's the good thing here!
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@CiutatAliena yes, exactly that! Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Show threadAndròmedaNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling Thank you! Happy weekend to you too!
Show threadCarolineCherryNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling @CiutatAliena Really interesting . In my imagination I always think of skilled crafts being rooted in one place .
Show threadSeamus CostelloNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling Wonderful where were they found?
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@Seamo Newark in Nottinghamshire, Netherurd in Peeblesshire and Snettisham in Norfolk.
Show threadPeter NapierNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling Absolutely amazing! Beautiful. Such skill. There must have been schools of artists with generation after generation of youngsters indentured to learn such skills. And that is just jewellery. There must haive been many other skilled artists and artisans serving the wealthy.
Show threadMary LayNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling Amazing!
Show threadSteve HyndNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling The more I think about this the cooler it gets!
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@SteveHynd it is really cool.... and one of those times you really feel the presence of a person in the past. Like finger prints on pottery!
Show threadSteve HyndNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling Just incredible work to put the evidence together; placing this single craftsman's hands on 3 pieces from his long career. Mega-kudos!
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@SteveHynd or her long career?? 😉
Show threadSteve HyndNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling True!
Show threadAlaricNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling very pretty! What were they used for?
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@spinal well... that's a good question!! We think worn on the neck (there's only bits of them in these pics, but see my feed for other full photos) but some are sized for arms and some European ones are too huge and rigid to have even been worn, so maybe statues or symbolic?
Show threadAlaricNov 25, 2022
@tess_machling it’s amazing how widespread they were! Love it.
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 25, 2022
@spinal oh indeed. Right across Europe and beyond. But the type we look at are very much British and Irish styles. Like there was a common form, but regional styles.
Show threadHerstory1Nov 26, 2022
@tess_machling 2300 years old that’s amazing! Do you know what they were used for/symbolised?
Show threadDr Tess MachlingNov 26, 2022

@Herstory1 that's one of the big questions! That they're found all over Europe in one form or another suggests a linked meaning, despite regional differences. The Romans used them in iconography to identify Celts/Gauls/those not-Roman suggests torcs were an identifier.

My feeling? They're a kind of family/group/community symbol. I don't think everyone had one (especially not in gold) & I think they were hugely important in Iron Age society.