This chap's working in mongolia among shepherds who still use the sling as a traditional herding tool.

Very interesting.


Quote:

I've been greatly enjoying your site this afternoon.  I'm Tim Shell, living in Mongolia where people still herd sheep like years ago.  I'm a firm believer in the Bible as the true account of history.  Pastor preached on David and Goliath and of course I ended up at your site learning about slings.  Part of my curiosity was the speed of the projectile possible.  After reading and watching some live action shots on You tube it's obvious that the story is realistic in every detail.   The speed and power dynamics are all verified.   David as a master of warfare is great to study.  All the elements of proper warfare, surprise, deception, etc at play. The shepherding side of things is missed by the majority of non agrarian minds.  Slings are a matter of course in nomadic shepherding. Having lived and worked around Mongolian shepherds for the past 10 years many things from the story ring true.  Youngest kid always gets the job of herding "those few sheep".  Number one characteristic of shepherding - boredom - same old, same old day after day.  And the sling was a shepherd's tool.  Herding is a never ending process of turning the sheep back to the right path, so many items are handy, shouts and voice commands have some effect and are quite useful.  These shepherds can steer a flock right and left from shouting distance with voice commands.  But then sometimes more enforcement is needed, whence the rock throwing commences, your word is law as far as you can throw a stone but no further.  But the sling allows the shepherd to extend the range, maybe 4x, of his effective authority greatly.  From one position he can now govern much more area with a flick of his wrist.  And of course the never ending supply of stones to experiment with in the wilderness.   The sling was also a form of amusement for the shepherd, every young boy should have the privilege of shooting heads off of thistles with a sling.  With daily practice over a few years extreme accuracy is a given, just like a major league pitcher can hit the strike zone through practice.  These little shepherd boys of course would vie with each other for distance, speed, accuracy, and size of projectile etc.  So by the time David meets Goliath, the string sling was just a normal extension of his own body, similar to a seasoned operator of a huge excavator, they can pick your teeth with it.  The genius of David was in using what was in his hand, which was perceived as no threat by the enemy, but in fact was a superior weapon in that engagement.   Surprise advantage, enemy never thought of it before.  The courage of David is amazing, and the willingness of Saul to let him fight as the representative for the whole nation.  Letting the enslavement of the nation rest on the ability of a shepherd boy. David's years as a shepherd were well used in meditation and psalm and music writing, as well as building courage and disciplines with weapons.  Of course we believe that God secured that victory, but He used a boy with dead on accuracy with a sling and stone to do it.  There was no magic or miracle, just a real, practical skill.   That is like a slap in the face of the gods of the Philistines, we won with a boy and sling. Wow, all the lessons in that story.  The pride of Goliath coming before the fall.  The danger of cursing at God which it specifically says he did.  The being off guard and throwing his head back to laugh would have exposed the bridge of his nose to the stone.  Falling forward on his face is a given as his body was in motion toward David and going down hill.  The stone deprives him of his consciousness and then David deprives him of his head with his own sword. I believe that David knew all along exactly what he was going to do, he had a plan that he was confident would succeed.  He had the ability to size up the situation quickly and make a decision.  All the stuff of the great warrior king is written all over that passage. Now, how to apply it to my daily life. Hey, thanks for a great, great service with your website, what you have put together is really encouraging to read, it backs up the Bible account all the way. God bless you, Timothy Shell

Well, I'm happy this Timothy wrote you, but I can't see the point of it...  ::)
Thanks for the compliments Mr. Shell, we appreciate this! Now register to the forum for more  :D
Greetings,
Mauro.

the point is that he's living with people who still see the sling as a common, daily use tool.

I find that pretty cool :-)  

Whether you believe in the bible or not - it's still interesting to find out about cultures where the sling is still used on a daily basis.

And mongolians are always cool  ;)

I wonder if he could get some video for us? Or buy some slings? I would happily pay 20 dollars or whatever they are using for hard currency there for a real working Mongolian sling!

He is actually seeing the sling being used as it probably was in ancient times, so he probably has an excellant idea of what it is actually capable of doing in the hands of an expert.  Pictures would be nice, films would be outstanding...

Darn, and if he log in it would be even better!
We'd have a window open in the past!
Greetings,
Mauro.

I have offered to sign him up - haven't heard back yet :-)

Nice letter,good man,good story,I would also love to see some mongolian slings,and shepherds in action

Very cool. Nothing really beats first hand expierience.