Historical Trichinopoly Examples

   Silver scourge: one strand of trichinopoly chainwork is doubled and the  two strands so formed are held together by plaited loops of wire at five  unequally spaced places. The chain terminates in a large loop, or knot,  from which issue four slender pendant tails each terminating in a  plaited knot. The whole is of silver. A bead, or toggle is attached to  the end of the scourge by doubling it through the loop formed at the  end. The bead is flat and annular, blue-black in colour with random  speckling of white dots and one red 

    Independent archaeological researcher Sue Heaser examined the bead  attached to the scourge in January 2025, following a query from a  researcher about its material. The researcher questioned whether the  bead could be Cornish serpentine rather than glass. After visual  examination including using transmitted light, Sue Heaser concluded that  "it is almost certainly glass". Telltale signs include its colouring,  signs of Herzian cracks and bubbles. A hard copy of Sue's report is  included in the scourge's Object File. 

  Excavated/Findspot: Trewhiddle, mine (Trewhiddle hoard)
 Europe: British Isles: England: Cornwall: St Austell (parish): Trewhiddle 

  Museum number: 1880,0410.4 

 The British Museum Website  

 Gold brooch chain; made from interlinked wire rings. At each end the chain is attached to a gold collar and hook/ring to attach it to matching terminals on the brooches 2001,0901.3 and 2001,0901.4. 

Found attached to 2001,0901.3.

This  object forms part of the Winchester hoard (2001,0901.1-10). The  Winchester hoard objects did not come from a grave, settlement or  temple, but had been buried on their own on top of a small hill that  might have been covered with trees. They may have been buried for  safekeeping or as a religious offering.
The hoard has two sets of gold jewellery, each comprising a necklace  torc and two gold brooches held together by a chain. There are also two  gold bracelets. A total of 1160 grams of very pure gold was used to make  the objects. One of the torcs is bigger than the other, possibly  because one was made for a man and the other for a woman.
The necklaces were crafted differently from other torcs made in Britain  at this time, such as those from Snettisham or Ipswich. Roman jewellery  making techniques such as granulation were used, and they were not  decorated with indigenous Iron Age designs. It is possible that a Roman  craft-worker made them. Gold brooches of this type are also rare. Only  two other Iron Age examples have been found in Britain (see The Market  Rasen brooch, 1996,0601.1).
The Winchester hoard objects would have demonstrated the status of their  wearers and showed that they had contacts with the Roman world and  other parts of Iron Age Europe. Many aspects of life for people in the  Winchester area were changing at the time this hoard was buried. The  objects in this hoard illuminate these changes, with their mixture of  old and new, British and Roman ideas. They were made for very important  people who lived at the time Julius Caesar was conquering France for the  Roman Empire, and may even have been a diplomatic gift from the Roman  world to indigenous leaders in Britain.

Excavated/Findspot: Owslebury (Winchester hoard)

Europe: British Isles: England: Hampshire: Owslebury

Acquisition notes: Metal detectorist find, 16 October 2000.

 G50/dc20 

 The British Museum Website