Oleander Ardens
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Slinging Rocks!
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While I was backpacking alone in the indian Himalayas I had to face quite often packs of stray and shepard dogs. It was surprising how effective it is to throw stones - it always worked when some dog tried to get lucky. Then I remembered that the sling was the shepard's bow. I guessed that a sling is an ideal weapon to scare off various predators, especially since it can be also efficiently used by weaker persons. In fact given the availabilty of decent stones, it's compact size and weight make it together with it's innocent look an ideal companion for the globetrotter - today and thousends of years ago.
The sling is indeed an ideal weapon of selfdefense. Even a small group of humans, composed of men, woman and bigger children could have shot a high volume of stones in a short time at predators of all sorts. Even if their skill would have varied greatly, just the look and the sound of a slinger would have installed fear into most animals, reminding them of old pains or close misses. Turning the tail becomes quite natural for most predators once they have tested that you are for them no gain without pain.The decent stones which could be used in such occasions were easy to replace. This enabled every member to train or play often with the sling.
Humans propably quickly realized that the power of the sling is also very useful for killing small mammals while it seldomly can bring down a dear-sized game reliably - that's what the Atlatl and later the bow was for. This broadend their supply and hunter base, as woman and children are well able to stalk smaller game. The inability to kill large game with ease and the broad use by the poorest and weakest made it inattractive for the upper social strata in more evolved societies which preferred the bow, which is better suited for most types of hunting.
So far my perspective on the early history of the sling, to be continued...
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