Livius writes (original translation in German):
Therefore they (the Archaeics) threw the projectile (made from stone) further than the Balearic slingers and had a more secure and harder throw. And their sling was not a simple strap as these of the Balears and other peoples, but a tripple sling leather, which is hardened through multiple seams, so that the sling bullet is not whirled away with a soft strap, but when it gained momentum has a secure grip it is shot like from a sinew. (Liv. 38, 29, 5-6)
That is what the article tells about Archaeic and Balearic slings. That is probably all we can get.
Further there are pictures of slings. Most show no details, e.g. older representations show only thin lines. But where we can see details we can distinguish between two types:
1) A thin braided sling (braiding is shown) like they are made today (
http://www.slinging.org/20.html), but with a different pouch. There the pouch is made of three strings. The middle string is thinner than the release and retention cords, maybe halve. The two outer strings are as thick as the release/retention cords. These detailed slings are depicted on Etruscan sources.
2) The strip sling where not much details are shown besides that they are a lot wider - maybe 5cm - than the sling in item #1. These are shown on later Roman sources.
Voelling now assumes that #1 is the Archaeic sling and #2 is the Balearic sling. That could be the case, but I am not really convinced. #2 is probably not as good as #1, but the descriptions of Livius do not fit that well. I think the probability is higher that both people made slings with the appearance of #1 but with different material, e.g. the Balearic simple linnen braided slings and the Archaeic more complex leather braided slings. That would also better fit what Strabo wrote about the material of the Balearic sling. If I remember correctly he wrote also they used hair and making strip slings from hair is probably to much of work.
Zwiebeltuete