Over the Christmas holiday, while I was back in the UK, I got the chance to visit the Pitt River's Museum:

https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/

Now, before I get to the slings (this is posted in General Slinging Discussion for a reason), I have to say the Pitt Rivers Museum is one of the most incredible collections of objects on the planet. There are very few museums I would put above it. We actually ran out of time so we didn't really get to see everything as much as we wanted to but I know for myself I could have spent three full days there and at no point get bored. If you ever get the chance GO. It's incredible.

This video gives a slight idea of the scale but really, going there and finding your head spinning from the thousands of objects and peoples and places and cultures and time periods is like nothing else. I decided to only take pictures of slings (so I could share them here :D) because if I took pictures of everything I thought was amazing or cool or interesting or mind-blowing, I would still be there now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukwnYt0E5Co

Like I said: GO!

Slings! With such a large collection, I knew they had to have some slings somewhere. They actually had a beautiful Tibetan example (labelled as a "slingshot"... I'll come back to that) as part of a display on Tibet and Tibetan culture with some really interesting information that they would tie them onto kids and use them to stop them running off too far and falling off the mountains :D It's also an interesting sling as it actually has two splits in the pouch rather than being a truly solid pouch which I haven't seen before.

I knew there had to be more slings and on the second floor, where they had most of the weapons and shields and armour, I found full cabinets dedicated to slings, slingstones and glandes! Again, some were labelled slingshots, but it was great to see so many examples from so many different cultures and so prominantly.

About the pictures, the museum itself is really quite dark and I only had my phone camera so they aren't amazingly clear, but they aren't too terrible. It might be in the uploading and resizing they have lost some clarity so if I can maybe give some more information if something isn't clear in the photo.

1. The Tibetan sling with slingstones.
2. The card for the Tibetan sling.
3. Close up of the braiding.
4. Close up of the pouch
5. Various slings from Europe and the Americas and a slungshot (top of the curled slings) from North American Plains Indians.
6. Slings from Africa and Asia, places that maybe don't get mentioned enough here on the forum. Really quite unusual, intricate designs. Also a staff sling from Ethiopia (Top right) which was broken and much shorter than it would have been in it's prime.
7. Close up on some of the braided African slings because they were particularly impressive.
8. Slings and slingstones from Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia. Also a net ammo bag from New Caledonia on the left.

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Thank you very much for the pictures!
The Pitt Rivers Museum has been on my go-to list for a very long time. It just got bounced up a couple places again.
One of the most fascinating facettes of slings for me is the huge variety of the textile techniques used. This is a very good example showcasing this diversity.

I really can't recommend it enough. Right next to the slings they had various types of bolas, throwing knives, spears, on the other side were harpoons, Japanese armour, helmets... It just went on and on. After seeing this floor that the slings were on, just before we headed back downstairs, we noticed that above us, covering the balcony above, where hundreds of different oars. Hundreds! It's insane how much stuff they have.

Really cool, I think I'm going to Oxford sometime this year, will have to check it out.

Weirdly the tibetan sling looks very similar to the one I just made and posted on the pictures thread.

Very impressive,  thanks for sharing. Those slings are amazing. When I took a backstage tour of a museum in Virginia.  The curator explained to me. That most museums only ever have 10% of their items in possession or being burrowed on display.  Just imagine all the stuff behind the scenes you didn't see.

I know for a fact they have loads of books, manuscripts and other materials we didn't see any of and they are restoring and preserving things constantly. I defintiely want to go back multiple times. I'm pretty sure everytime I'll see something new.

huh never heard of it before.
The tibetan looks identical to the one I have.
cool thread :thumb:

Tempted to drop them a line and explain that a slingshot - strictly speaking is the missile and the tool is actually a sling.

dropped them a line on their facebook page :-)

Everyone should go. It's really breath-taking.