Hi guys!  As some of you know, occasionally a magazine has an article about slings and slinging.  I've been collecting several, but would like to put together a comprehensive list.  So let me know what articles or books you've found about slinging! ;D

I'll start the ball rolling by mentioning two or three:

Savage, Cliff  "The sling for sport and survival"  Breakout productions.  Port Townsend, Washington.  1999.
(A good inexpensive book that has some good throwing techniques in it)

Ballard, Lynn P.  "Making and Using the venerable hand sling"  In, Mother Earth News (May/June)1985: 148-149.
(A great beginners design for slings!!)

Feel free to fill in my gaps, I'll add more later.

Rob

I think the single most important article written about the sling is by Manfred Korfmann.  His 1973 Scientific American article is just jammed pack full of great information.  

Manfred Korfmann "The Sling as a Weapon," Scientific American 229.4 (1973), pp. 36-42.

I have copies if people are interested....

One of the main reasons I set up this site was because of a lack of information about the weapon (which I could argue is more historically significant than the bow). There are sources out there, you just have to find them. I'd have to check my folder full-O'-slinging-stuff for more references.  Many ancient or medieval weapon books have brief sections on slings. The Book of The Sword, by Richard F. Burton has several brief mentions of slings for example.  I once ran across a book (and made some photocopies) that had data for piercing force for different weapons, like axe, sword, javelin, and also sling. The sling was 2nd to lowest (I think spearing someone underhand was less powerful :)). It discussed how the value was formulated based on projectile weight and FPS.  

The best place to find sources is to hit up your local library and scour everything somewhat related.  Thats what I did when I initially became interested in the weapon.  

Currently I'm trying to get hold of a book from the mid 1800s that has an article in it about slings.  I've located a copy at the New York Historical Society.  

Observations on the use of the sling, as a warlike weapon among the ancients / by Walter Hawkins. 
London : Printed by J.B. Nichols and Son, 1847.
14 p. ; 30 cm.


Chris

Hm, that peircing article sounds cool!  Thanks for the 1847 reference, that's one that I didn't have before.  I looked it up and found two other libraries that have it, and I've sent an interlibrary loan request for it.  I have my doubts, but if it comes in, I'll get you some photocopies!! ;)

Rob

Chris, the 1847 book just came in at the Library.  It will take me a couple of days to get over there to pick it up, but when I do, I'll be sure to send you a couple of scans.

Rob

Sounds good.  Saves me a trip uptown.   ;D

Chris

hello chris

there is an articel about slinging in the book " c. van driel-murray (hrsg.) :roman military equipment: the sources of evidence. brit. arch.rep. intern. ser. 476 (1986) s.255-279

there is very interesting russian? webside about the sling. i don `t speak russian but there are many pictures of slingers an slinging techniques. go to "http://xlegio.enyoy.ru/puls/shobelev/sling1.htm"


m. korfmann has written two other articles about the sling in german.
"Mit schleuder und bogen in südwestkleinasien" (1972) and "die waffe Davids" (1986)
first is a book, second an articel in a sience magazin.

uli brugger

Thanks for the additional references.

I can't seem to get that link to work however.  There is a site http://www.xlegio.ru but the link your provide doesn't work.  Any typo's in the address?

Chris

Yea i tried it to and it didnt work.

hello

sorry for the mistake. try it with www.xlegio.ru/pubs/shobelev/sling1. htm -52k
or give in google the word "sling korfmann" and searchthe link.

brugger

That one is working for me:

http://www.xlegio.ru/pubs/skobelev/sling1.htm

Great! Thanks brugger :)

Jurek

Altavista can translate russian:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xlegio.ru%2Fpubs%2Fskobelev%2Fsling1.htm&lp=ru_en&tt=url

It only translates about halfway and takes a while to load up.  The pictures are great.  I'm going to see if i can contact this D.A. Skobelev.

Chris

hello chris

Please translate the text in german too.

Thanks brugger

Rather than providing a link, go to this site:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

It lets you translate text, or translate a whole page.  Just fill in the address in the second field (http://www.xlegio.ru/pubs/skobelev/sling1.htm), select the translation type, and hit the translate button.

Chris

*Im don't think it's possible to translate from russian to german so easily.  You can try finding another translation site, but I don't know of any off hand that isn't targetted towards english.  You could translate it into english from russian, and then copy the text to a text file on your computer.  Then tranlate it from english to german.  It will sound extreemly broken, but you should be able to make some sense from it.  Good luck. *

Ok, from the looks of it, this is what we've got:

Savage, Cliff  "The Sling for Sport and Survival."  Breakout Productions.  Port Townsend, Washington.  1999.

Cahlander, Adele  "Sling Braiding of the Andes"  Weaver's Journal Monograph IV.  Colorado Fiber Center, Boulder.  1980.

Ballard, Lynn P.  "Making and Using the Venerable Hand Sling."  In, Mother Earth News  May/June 1985: 148-149.

Korfmann, Manfred  "The Sling as a weapon."  Scientific American 229(4): 34-42.  October 1973.

Campbell, Paul.  "The Chumash Sling"  SPT Bulletin of Primitive Technology.  Fall 1996.

Owen, Rodrick  "Braids: 250 patterns from Japan, Peru, and Beyond"  Interweave Press.  Loveland, Colorado.  1995.

Heizer, Robert F. and Irmgard W. Johnson  "A Prehistoric Sling from Lovelock Cave, Nevada"  American Antiquity 18(2):139-147.  October 1952.

Schwartz, Max.  Machines, Buildings and Weaponry of Biblical Times. Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1990

Hawkins, Walter  "Observations on the use of the sling, as a warlike weapon among the ancients" Printed by J.B. Nichols and Son, 1847.  London : 14 p. ; 30 cm.

c. van driel-murray (hrsg.) :roman military equipment: the sources of evidence. brit. arch.rep. intern. ser. 476 (1986) s.255-279


Well, that's all that I've been able to collect (excluding information from websites and forums) ;D  I swear that I'm missing something.  So, look through the list and let me know if I forgot something or if you have something that I don't have up.  Otherwise, that's a hefty start!

Rob

Ok, the textual resources page has stuff on it now.

Can someone investigate the references on the bottom of this page:
http://www.xlegio.ru/pubs/skobelev/sling1.htm

Many look promising.  It's very choppy english.  If you can verify the books reference to slings, and provide me with a clear citation, I'll add it.  

Thanks,
Chris
-------

Butistuta, 1995 – Butistuta J. Colby I. Edge B. Rothero C.  The army of Manco Inca. "Ancient warrior". Vol. 1. Winter 94/95 p. 34-39 // Stock  Port, 1995.


Bellori, 1704 – Bellori. Colomna M. Avr Antoni Rome 1704.


Bonnet, 1926 – Bonnet Hans. Die Waffen der Volker des Alten  Orients. ?????? Schleuder s. 114-117. Leipzig, 1926, 1977.


Carter, 1934 – Carter Howard. Tut-ench Annul. Band III Leipzig  1927-34


Fougeres, 1892 – Fougeres. Funda. // Dictionaire des antiquetes  Greques et Romaines. Vol. II. p.1363-1366. Paris, 1892.


Yadin, 1963 – Yadin Ygael. The Art of Warfare in biblical lands.  London, 1963


Korfmann, 1973 – Korfmann Manfred. The sling as a weapon. ??????  "Scientific American". Vol. 229 ? 4 oct. 1973 p. 34-42 // N-Y, 1973.


Lindblom, 1927 – Lindblom ?.G. Die Schleuder in Afrika und  Anderwarts // Riksmuseets etnografiska avdelning. Smarre meddelanden ? 2. Stockholm,  1927.


Lindblom, 1940 – Lindblom K.G. The sling especially in Afrika.  Additional notes to a previous paper // Statens etnografiska museum. Smarre meddelanden  ? 17. Stockholm, 1940.


Luders, 1891 – Luders S.W. Ueber Wurfwaffen // Jahrbuch der  Hamburgischen wissenschaft lichen austalten. IX Jahrgang. 1 halfte. Hamburg, 1891.


Newberry, 1894 – Newberry Persy E. Beny Hasan. Part II. London,  1894.


Recueil, 1763-68 – Recueil de Medailles de Peuples et de Villes.  Tome II. Paris. 1763-68.


Strutt, 1876 – Strutt Joseph. The sports and Pastimes of the  People of England. London, 1876.

I would like to add the following article:

"Humble and Deadly - the ancient slinger" in Ancient Warfare, Vol. II Issue I (Febr.March 2008).

The article describes the Greek slingers of the classic period and the staff slingers of the late Roman empire.

funda iucunda