Welcome, Guest. Please Login
SLINGING.ORG
 
Home Help Search Login


Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
Celtic Sling (Read 9257 times)
Bill Skinner
past-moderator
****
Offline


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 3292
Re: Celtic Sling
Reply #15 - Sep 26th, 2014 at 1:18pm
 
I will note that the second article you quoted didn't actually say what the stones would have been used for. 

I deal with archies pretty regularly, their mindset on this side of the pond goes something like this:  The oldest accepted theory is going to stand unless you offer some pretty convincing proof that it is incorrect.  All papers with different view points had better offer some sort of proof that the older theory is incorrect, they will be considered but probably rejected without proof.  However, if the argument is good enough, then it will be considered in future work.

There are lots of inconsistencies  when you try to figure out a culture just from midden heaps and the remenaints of  cities and fortresses.  Keep in mind that pretty much everything you read is nothing more than an educated guess.  Some are pretty good, a lot will later be proven to be incorrect.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Thearos
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline


Take that

Posts: 3409
Re: Celtic Sling
Reply #16 - Sep 29th, 2014 at 2:06pm
 
There is a whole thread on the issue of slingstones (or "handstones") in Celtic forts here

http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1327496223/0

C_A and Morningstar went to provide experimental data. The point of the research was to discuss the theories (hand rather than sling) of M. Avery:

Stoning and Fire' at Hillfort Entrances of Southern Britain
Michael Avery
World Archaeology, Vol. 18, No. 2, Weaponry and Warfare (Oct., 1986), pp. 216-230
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Thearos
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline


Take that

Posts: 3409
Re: Celtic Sling
Reply #17 - Sep 29th, 2014 at 2:07pm
 
Caldou, in France, may have a Continental perspective. Elsewhere on this site, I linked to a bunch of archaeological reports showing that clay biconals were quite widespread in pre-conquest Gaul (Brittany but also Central France).
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Caldou
Funditor
****
Offline


Moving the world... rock
by rock.

Posts: 779
Picardie, France
Re: Celtic Sling
Reply #18 - Oct 2nd, 2014 at 4:12pm
 
We are told that the "normal" Celts (as usual, they tend to do things akwardly on this island... Tongue ) know and can use the sling as a weapon by JC (not the Israeli, the Roman one). Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls against the Roman Invasion called for reinforcement, including archers and slingers. So we have slingers, who can use their slings against "two-legged big game" in case of emergency.

We also have stones and clay bullets around oppida or other fortified places...

But we don't have any sling nor any how-to-sling-like-a-true-Celt, not even a drawing on a pottery shard.


JAG wrote on Sep 25th, 2014 at 5:40pm:
Some people trace the words on a page. Others retrace the footsteps of their ancestors.

And some try their best at the later with whatever traces on pages their ancestors' neighbourgs left. And a lot of tests.
Back to top
 

Eight in one shot!
The french Slinging club
If it's still moving, keep slinging !
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Thearos
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline


Take that

Posts: 3409
Re: Celtic Sling
Reply #19 - Oct 3rd, 2014 at 7:05pm
 
Reading JC is a really good way of seeing Celtic warriors at work-- seen by their great opponent. Starting, for instance, with the fight against the Helvetii in 58 I think.

In BG 4.25, the first expedition to Britain, the Roman force is met by the ubiquitous British charioteers, and, it seems, gets pelted with javelins-- but not slings; in fact, it's the Romans who use bows, arrows and slings (from the ships) to force the Britons back from the beach.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Thearos
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline


Take that

Posts: 3409
Re: Celtic Sling
Reply #20 - Oct 7th, 2014 at 8:28pm
 
For Caldou: look at

Enceintes gauloises de l'Ouest et du Nord
Paul-Marie Duval     Publications de l'École française de Rome  lien   Travaux sur la Gaule  Year   1989    pp. 81-110

(on www.persee.fr)

Not clear what Duval means by "balles de fronde"-- clay or stone ? But at Penhars near Quimper, there is a fortified site with several thousand "balles de fronde", and generally a sort of air de famille with British sites.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Thearos
Interfector Viris Spurii
*****
Offline


Take that

Posts: 3409
Re: Celtic Sling
Reply #21 - Oct 7th, 2014 at 8:32pm
 
L'habitat fortifié laténien de la « Pierre d'Appel » à Etival-Clairefontaine (Vosges)
Alain Deyber    lien Gallia  lien   Year   1984    lien Volume   42    lien Issue   42-1    lien pp. 175-217

p. 212 for oval stones (not local, so specially chosen and brought to the fort), perhaps thrown by hand, but the excavator thinks that seeing the distance where he found them, far from the walls, that slings are more likely.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
(Moderators: joe_meadmaker, Kick, Curious Aardvark, Chris, Morphy, vetryan15, Rat Man)