Slings and Slingstones

The Forgotten Weapons of Oceania and the Americas

Robert York, Gigi York

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781631010828
• Topic: Scienze sociali
• Subtopic: Antropologia fisica

A fascinating examination of an overlooked weapon

For most of us, our knowledge of slings and slingstones begins and ends with the biblical tale of David slaying Goliath. Scholars and archaeologists have told us that slings like the one David employed were common in the Old World, used not just for shepherd boys to kill giants but for protecting herds, hunting, and combat. However, few scholars have addressed the function slings have occupied outside of Eurasian civilizations, especially their use in Oceania and the Americas.

In this astounding new archaeological survey, authors Robert York and Gigi York examine the history of Oceania and the Americas to unveil the significant role slings and slingstones played in developing societies. They present new evidence that suggests that unlike David who plucked rounded pebbles from a stream, inhabitants of the Pacific Islands deliberately fashioned sling missiles out of coral, stone, and clay into uniquely deadly shapes. They also show that the use of slings in the Americas was more pervasive and inclined to variability than previously recognized.

Well documented, bountifully illustrated, and thoroughly researched, Slings and Slingstones is sure to engage readers interested in expanding their knowledge of the past. It is an essential reference for archaeologists, historians, and students of the history of arms and weaponry.

PART 1

Setting the Stage

Introduction

THE SLING AND ITS AMMUNITION

Across the pre-European Pacific and the Americas, slings varied widely in such characteristics as materials, workmanship, dimensions, and decoration. But—and this is what is of the most interest here—mechanically one type of sling was overwhelmingly favored for use: the flexible, one-hand, missile-firing sling—David’s weapon. Coincidentally (or was it?), it was the sling of choice in the Old World (Harrison 2006; Korfmann 1973). Feest’s (1980, 73) succinct description is generally applicable: “The sling itself is a simple device consisting of a string [more often a thick cord or strap] with a pouch holding the sling-stone near its centre. Rotating the sling launches the missile.”

There were few variations on the theme. One exception was the staff or stick sling (Korfmann 1973, 37–39). Where these exceptions exist, we will note them. What we will not be considering is the modern slingshot. Mechanically, the modern Y-shaped, elastic-band slingshot is more akin to the bow than the sling—being a tension rather than a centrifugal force weapon. Though the modern slingshot only dates to the mid–nineteenth century (with the vulcanization of rubber), its roots can be traced to the rare pellet bow (Knight 1880, 295; Métraux 1949, 244).

We offer little more in the way of descriptive information in the remainder of this work concerning actual slings. To some extent this is because slings have been made of perishable materials and thus relatively few have survived from ancient times to the present day (with important exceptions, such as in Peru). Of those, even fewer have been recovered from archaeological context. Our primary concern will be with what usually remains of this weapon system, its ammunition—that is, missiles made of relatively imperishable materials, usually stone and fired or sun-baked clay.

OUR GAME RULES (TERMINOLOGY, DATING RULES, ETC.)

In describing sling missiles, or probable sling missiles, we often use imprecise terms such as “hand-size,” “egg-shape,” “diamond-shape,” “football-shape” (specifically in reference to American and/or rugby footballs). In part we do this because that is about as much information as many reports supply. We believe these terms are helpful because they place in the mind’s eye clear word pictures that facilitate ready comprehension and comparison. For a little more precision, the reader may assume that hand-size spheroids/subspheroids (e.g., “balls” and “eggs”) range in diameter from 3 to 9 cm. Hand-size biconical (“diamond-shape”) and bipointed ovoids (“footballs”) range in their midline or widest diameter from 2 to 6 cm and in length from 2.5 to 10 cm.

For ease of comparison, dates are, with the exception of known calendar dates, expressed as “years ago” (YA) before the modern era, loosely counting back from the base year of AD 2000. In this respect, we have gone against archaeological convention and chosen not to use BP (Before Present), as this term is specifically associated with radiocarbon dating, which uses a base year of AD 1950. This allows for control of time sufficient for general comparison of data without getting into the complexity and confusion of calibrated versus uncalibrated radiocarbon dates and the discussion of the merits of various other dating techniques. We caution the reader, however, to take our prehistoric dates with a grain of salt, as radiocarbon dates, on which our estimates are primarily based, are being continually revised in light of recent advances in the field. For example, as new area-specific calibration curves are worked out, in many cases “old” (ca. 10,000+YA) New World radiocarbon dates are proving to be as much as 2,000 years too young (Largent 2007).

We will refer often to Austronesian speakers. This is because there is a strong correlation of sling use with speakers of Austronesian languages in Oceania. Admittedly, with the exception of Melanesia, virtually all the languages of Oceania are members of the Austronesian family. Interestingly, or confusingly, no languages belonging to the Austronesian family or phylum were spoken in Australia (Goodenough 1996, 1–5); nor was the sling present there.

If we fail to mention a geopolitical region that falls within our areas of interest, the reader may assume we found no information regarding use of the sling. No information means just that and must not be translated to mean the sling was or was not used.

CHAPTER 1

Time Out, or a Brief Try at Locating the World’s First Slings and Slingstones

The early history—actually the entire history—of the sling is frustratingly hard to trace. This is partly due to a lack of preservation or graphic depictions of early slings (e.g., in rock art). But it has even more to do with a pervasive disinterest in the subject by archaeologists since about 1960. By contrast, a paucity of actual spears, darts, atlatls, and bows has hardly kept archaeologists from exhaustively studying and inferring the use of these artifacts from stone projectile points.

To rephrase and scale-up complaints filed more than fifty years ago by the noted American Southwest archaeologist Richard Woodbury (1954, 171, 172), the few archaeologists who bother to disclose that “stone spheroids”—that just might be sling missiles—often constitute a significant part of the lithics at archaeological sites then immediately drop the ball. That is, they fail to furnish even Archaeology 101 information about such finds for comparative studies—such as discovery context, sourcing data, sample numbers, weights (possibly the most informative piece of information), measurements, and technology (a high level of technical sophistication is often involved in sling missile manufacture) that may provide vital clues in interpreting artifact and site function(s). (Relative to this issue, perhaps times are changing; Collins’s [1997] study of the stone balls at Monte Verde, Chile, Topic’s [1989] examination of the Ostra Site, Peru, and Brown Vega and Craig’s [2009] distance experiments with sling-hurled projectiles in the Andes are hopeful signs.) Regardless, we have gathered sufficient data to permit us to engage in some fairly solid speculation.

It is likely that one of the first things early hominids would do with a rock—besides pound something with it, like a finger—would be to throw it, as modernday human infants are prone to do. (To further explore the tie between human bioevolution and throwing of stones, see Cannell [2002] and Isaac [1987].) First tosses perhaps were untargeted, made only for fun. But it wasn’t long before a strongly thrown, well-aimed stone could be effective in the hunt, in driving away competing predators, or in combat. If the hurled stone did not outright kill small to medium-sized prey (not recommended for elephants) or an enemy, it would have enough stunning power to give the hunter or warrior time to close in for the kill with other weapons, such as clubs, spears, or swords (Keeley 1996, 51, 52). The David versus Goliath strategy.

Undoubtedly, stones were first thrown using arm strength alone (Cannell 2002). One would intuit that it was likely not long (in geological and biological/cultural evolution terms, maybe several thousand years) before some bright light came up with the idea for a sling device that would greatly increase range, velocity, and lethality, as the invention of the spear thrower (known in the New World as the atlatl and in Australia as the woomera) did presumably later for the spear/javelin (see figure 1).

SURVEY OF SOME VERY EARLY OLD WORLD SITES (CA. 40,000 TO 1 MILLION+ YA)

The world’s first stone missiles and, however unlikely perhaps, slings may be associated with pre–Homo sapien hominids and be over one million years old (Isaac 1987). From the African fossil man site at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, Mary Leakey (1971, 265–67) described “significant numbers” of generally hand-size and larger, intentionally shaped and smoothed stone “spheroids [balls] and subspheroids.” She speculated that they were “missiles or bolas stones.” Her speculation that they were missile stones recently received advocacy in a Lithic Technology article by the Simon Fraser University archaeologist Brian Hayden (2008, 113–24). Hayden argued that functions others have suggested for these spherical artifacts (such as hammerstones or spent lithic reduction cores) are not plausible. We assume he rejected out of hand Leakey’s thought that they were bola stones since he does not consider the possibility.

Oakley (1950, 43–45) mentions comparable “chipped stone balls” in apparent association with Acheulean cleavers and hand axes and the “broken bones of baboons, wild pigs and zebra” from Olorgesailie, Kenya. This material dates to around 400,000 YA (Isaac 1977, 27).

Similar stone spheroids have been reported for Pleistocene sites in northern China (including Zhoukoudian) and Java, Indonesia, dating from 200,000 to possibly in the neighborhood of one million years ago (Bellwood 1985, 60–67; Jacob 1978, 13–15; Senshui 1985, 165). However, Bellwood (1987, 186) cautions that the Java dates are not certain, and these supposed very early tools may relate to later Homo sapien populations and date to less than 50,000 YA.

Skipping right along to ca. 40,000 YA, Zhonglang (1985, 201) noted that over a thousand stone spheroids associated with early Homo sapiens were recovered from the Xujiayao site, northern China, ranging in weight from less than 100 grams to 1,500 grams, and Zhonglang speculated that “although the function of these finely made, symmetrical spheroids is not yet known, it is thought that they may have been employed as missile stones or bolas.” (As we will argue, it is a good possibility that those weighing plus or minus 100 grams were slingstones and those weighing more than 300 grams were hand-hurled missiles.) Yuping and Olsen (1985, 246, 247) commented on similar stone spheroids of comparable antiquity from Mongolia.

Oakley (1950, 56, 76, 77) mentioned similar stone balls of comparable antiquity to the northern China and Mongolian finds recovered from the African and European sites at Broken Hill Caves, Zimbabwe, and La Quina Cave, France.

ARE THEY SLINGSTONES?

For now we cannot move beyond speculation relative to the function of these very early stone spheroids, although it appears to be a safe bet that many, if not all, served as hand-hurled missiles. We have no evidence, in the way of actual bolas or slings or graphic depictions of them (e.g., in rock art), preserved at these Old World sites that would support the use of one or both of these devices. However, we offer the following thoughts as conjectural food.

Where you have large quantities or caches of such stones, as reported for the Xujiayao Site, it is more likely they were missiles—either hand-, sling-hurled, or both—rather than bolas. That is, given what we do know about the historical use of bolas (Métraux 1949, 253, 254; Wood 1870, 528–530), it is more likely that these devices will be retrieved, and thus we would expect to find only a few bola weights in mostly work or domestic settings, whereas historical and archaeological data indicate that sling missiles, particularly when stockpiled for possible combat use, are often found in large quantities or spread over wide areas, such as ancient battle grounds (LeBlanc 2003, 63, 142).

It is also probable that the first bola stones (or similar artifacts, such as fish net weights or club heads) were grooved for direct tether attachment (Bird 1988, 32, 33, 48–55; Coon 1971, 97; Lavallée 2000, 83, 164; Métraux 1949, 253, 254). None of the above descriptions note that these very early stone spheroids were grooved, perforated, or otherwise modified for attachment. Enclosing bola stones in leather or fabric pouches, which negates the need for attachment modification, appears to have come much later in time and may have been unique to South America (Métraux 1949, 253, 254).

WEIGHT MATTERS

Another important clue for determining the function of early stone spheroids (and later sling missile candidates) is their weight. Cannell’s (2002) experiments with hand-hurled stones indicated that 200 grams (and stones of this weight were selected only by small children) is the minimal weight for telling impact on a possible predator or enemy at a distance of approximately 10 meters. The optimum and mean weight selected by physically fit males was around 500 grams and by females 330 grams.

In comparison, 200 grams is toward the upper end of the scale for sling ammunition. Korfmann (1973, 39) gave the average weight for sling missiles from the Mediterranean area, dating to ca. 2300–7000 YA, regardless of material used (i.e., stone, clay, or lead), as 20–50 grams. He did, however, comment that Balearic Islanders possibly used sling missiles that may have weighed as much as 330 grams, which, he noted, “probably represents the outside limit for sling missiles made of stone.” (There are cases where the outside limit was probably much higher [see Harrison 2006].)

Based on our examination from 1998–2002 of some 150 slingstones in the Northern Mariana Islands Museum collections and a review of archaeological reports (Hunter-Anderson 1994, 5.71; Weaver 1988, 268), Marianas slingstones rarely exceeded 120 grams, with the mode being 40–80 grams. Takayama and Intoh (1978, 25, 26) showed a similar weight curve for some 156 slingstones they examined from Truk (Chuuk). These weight ranges generally hold true for slingstones worldwide—with some significant exceptions, such as the 1 kilogram naval slingstones reportedly used in Tahiti (Hauser-Schäublin & Krüger 1998, 296).

Here we are most interested in using weight to help identify sling missiles in ancient archaeological contexts. But once we are confident that we are dealing with sling missiles, weight has high potential for helping to determine much more. For example, as Korfmann (1973, 41) noted, in a battle setting—specifically the 348 BC siege of Olynthus, northern Greece—missile weights proved most helpful in discriminating between attacking Macedonians, who used lead missiles with a narrow weight range of 30–35.8 grams, and defending Olynthians, who used lighter lead missiles with a weight range of 19.5–33.4 grams.

JUMPING TO THE NEW WORLD (CA. 10,000–13,000 YA)

Jumping forward in time and to the other side of the planet, Collins (1997, 403–470) described 121 “culturally modified” spherical and subspherical, generally hand-size stones from the Monte Verde site in Chile dating, conservatively, to ca. 12,500 years ago. These spheroids/subspheroids ranged in weight from 10.4 grams (only one of the two grooved stones weighed this ...