coyoteslinger
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SW Slinger
Posts: 6
AZ
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Hello everyone,
A little while back I asked for info on Navajo slings for a university project. Well, that project is done and I thought I'd post my findings here (excerpts of my paper). I hope it can be of some use.
Attached is a photo of the sling I made.
"...also found that the sling was used for hunting small game. The sling was likely given to young boys to practice with missile weaponry and bring food back home to their families. The study does not differentiate between small game and birds, but it is entirely responsible it was used for both."
"Navajo shepherds used the sling to help protect their flocks. The Navajo used their slings in this manner, similar to shepherds world-wide, by slinging rocks at any predators to either scare or wound. And also to direct straying sheep back to the herd by slinging a rock in front of them to scare them back to the safety of the group."
" Navajo used slings for crop protection. The Navajo slingers would work similarly to their shepherd brethren, by slinging stones to keep small game and birds off of the crop fields."
"Some Navajo expressed total disdain at the sling’s effectiveness, comparing it to a toy. This is likely to the lack of length the sling had as interviewed Navajo reported: “if [the sling is] greater than three feet, they are difficult to shoot efficiently.” (Kluckhohn et al. 1971)"
"The Navajo sling description itself it fairly detailed enough. The pouch was diamond shaped, common to all southwestern slings (York and York 2011). The material was deerskin. The cords were deerskin hide no more than one foot long. (Kluckhohn et al. 1971). Taking these lengths into account the Navajo sling likely had a total length of just over two feet, or about two thirds of a meter. This sling would be a bit easier to learn to use than a longer sling, but would be limited to small projectiles and would afford a much smaller mechanical advantage once slinging. That is the entirety of Navajo sling description. There is no mention of a release knot, or a finger loop or hand-wrap to secure the sling when the stone is slung. From the author’s personal experience, not having either of these features while slinging with hide slings can result in the sling being slung, not the stone."
"As slings generally follow an environmental pattern and not a cultural one, Southwestern slings are the primary model to be followed. In particular, the Apache sling, due to it’s similarities in description to the Navajo sling, the similar locations of habitation and the shared cultural/linguistic heritage. The finished sling was made entirely of hide. A diamond shaped pouch was constructed. A hole was drilled into each end of the diamond and the cords were inserted and tied off in a manner similar to the Apache sling. Each cord was cut at exactly one foot long, accounting for finger loop length. A release knot was tied onto one cord. The finished sling looks similar to a shortened Apache sling. To differentiate between this sling and the Apache model, due to the prevalence of sewn finger loops in the Southwest, the finger loop was sewn."
"Testing the Sling and Conclusion: After construction the sling was tested with various rocks found in northern Arizona. As expected, the sling lacked power, range and speed. The author found it difficult to sling projectiles over a distance of fifty meters. Twenty or thirty meters was a norm. The sling had trouble handling larger stones. Due to the short cords, larger stones were less stable within the pouch. In addition, the shorter cords lacked mass and stuck or tangled around the rock when released. Also, lacking a large mechanical advantage, the larger rocks often could not reach a significant velocity to achieve stability. Small, dense pebbles worked best for range. Although tests against split aspen wood scraps showed that they lacked any real damaging power even at ranges below twenty meters. The shortness of the cords did allow for more room for error during release resulting in more accurate shots. The author used helicopter, Apache, Balearic and whip styles of slinging. Balearic was largely unsuccessful, as the counter swipe at the release often failed due to the short cords being tangled. The whip method worked, but the author found it difficult to sling with any force. The helicopter method was functional. The Apache method, a method the author is mostly unfamiliar with, involves whipping the sling from rest, overarm and releasing towards the target. Due to Apache use, it is probable that this is the method that the Navajo used. Unfortunately the author is not skilled enough with this method to give any real data on it’s effectiveness. All in all, the Navajo sling performed poorly compared to other slings the author has tested (Coyoteslinger 2016). While the ethnographic accounts listed were followed, it is in the author’s opinion that Navajo slings had much longer cords when used. The author believes that with the adoption of the slingshot and firearms, the sling was relegated to even more of a toy role. Thus, it’s cords were shortened for easier use and less danger for children to use. Further research should look into any defining aspects of a Navajo sling, and cord length. Regardless, having some idea of what a Navajo sling looked like and was used for is a key step towards replacing lost cultural information."
I should have a video about the Navajo sling up on my youtube channel sometime next week.
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