Thunder Chief wrote on Mar 16^th, 2012 at 11:11pm:


Very interesting point. Of course in those days slings weren't a hobby in the modern sense, but useful tools. However slings were the weapons of the lower classes. Royalty and aristocracy used bows. But when shooting at waterfowl over lakes, rivers, etc. slings have the big advantage that you don't have to worry about recovering your arrows.

Interesting that when David and Jonathan become friends, right after the Goliah incident, Jonathan gave David his own bow. This wasn't just a random gift, it symbolized David's elevation into royal society.

Throwing sticks they certainly had, I have seen some of them, but do we definitely know of any returning boomerangs in Egypt?

To the best of my knowledge they have only been known in Australia, and there they were only about 10% of the total of all throwing sticks. In some parts of the country they were not used at all.

Of course, the boomers found in king Tut's coffin were never thrown, but their shape have been studied and it is very probable that they did return indeed.
I have many serious books on the boomerang (history and aerodynamics) and have found that allegation in several of them.
Cannot quote them right now as I'm preparing to move house next month, so all my books are packed up in boxes, but could give you references in a little while.

You're right saying most Aboriginal boomerangs do not return.
This feature isn't very useful for hunting.
Returning boomerangs were only used in very few areas, mainly as a toy for kids, or to gather flocks of ducks together in order to trap them in big nets tied to tall trees.
Though, they still make a curve in space.  They can also hit the ground and get back on their killing track to chop legs or heads of roos or emus off !

Egyptians seem to have also used the returning boomerang this way : gather flocks of birds and eventually hit one over the head (though no mention of nets).
Ibis and ducks are water birds, and if the boomerang doesn't come back... well it's lost.

http://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/curators-diary-22312-of-sling-sh...

Thunder Chief wrote on Mar 16^th, 2012 at 11:11pm:

Finnish ex-army chief, President Tarja Halonen (a woman), had not been to the army.

I find this David vs Museum story really great, it certainly deserves c_a`s gold star.
timann

After looking at the picture it occurred to me that the cords are reverse twisted instead of braided. I used to reverse twist my sling cords but stopped doing so out of fear it would introduce too much twisting into the sling during the shot. If the Egyptians did it though... I might have to start doing it that way again.