⁶²"Tara Torcs." A History of Ireland in 100 Objects, a Selection. 100objects.ie/taratorcs/.

From this source: "The amount of gold used to make them, the fact that torcs are a new kind of object, the technological sophistication they required and the emergence of Tara itself as an especially important ritual centre all point to a society that is becoming more complex. The largest of the torcs has a diameter of about 42cm and, if untwisted, would extend to about 167cm. The ability to make objects such as these comes in a period of development that may have been stimulated by the deterioration of the Irish climate from about 1200 BC. This may have led to conflict and insecurity (new types of weapons and enclosed settlements date from this period), with the emergence of more powerful kings. The assumption is that torcs were worn around the neck, but these from Tara are large enough to have to been worn around the waist; they could even have been placed on idols. The strong likelihood, however, is that they were, as Eamonn Kelly of the National Museum puts it, ‘regalia worn by the kings of Tara. How do we know? These are the finest objects of the period’."

On the discovery and preservation of these objects, George Petrie wrote, "[the torcs] are now happily saved from the usual fate of antiquities of the kind discovered in Ireland, by the liberality of the Members of the Royal Irish Academy, and other patriotic individuals." (Petrie, George. "On the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill." The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 18, 1839, pp. 181-184.)