[b]Preface[/b] [Chris]
 
• Forgotten weapon.
• Limited literature on the sling.  Reason for book.
• The slings historical significance, and how it shaped the course of history.
• It's significance today.

[b]Anatomy of The Sling[/b] [Jeff H]

[b]Casting Styles[/b] [David T]

[b]Pre-Historic Period[/b]

• Paleolithic, Neolithic.  General origins of the sling.  [Chris]
- Where did the sling develop?
- What was the sling used for?
- What other projectile weapons were being used and how did they compare.
- Earliest evidence of use.

• Bronze Age
- Sumerian (Mesopotamia) (3200–2360 BC)
- Egypt (2850–715 BC)
- Minoan & Mycenean (3000–1100 BC)
- Indus Valley (3000–1500 BC)
- Akkadian (2350–2230 BC)
- Assyrian (1800–889 BC)
- Babylonian I (1728–1686 BC)
- Hittite  (1640–1200 BC)
- Hebrew (1000-740 BC)

• Iron Age
- Mede  (835–550 BC)
- Phoenician (1100–332 BC)
- Scythian (800–300 BC)
- Phrygian (1000–547 BC)
- Persian (559–330 BC)
- Babylonian II (625–539 BC)
- Cimmerian  (750–500 BC)
- Lydian  (700–547 BC)
- Etruscan  (900–396 BC)
- Olmec (1200-1000BC)
- Greek (900–200 BC)



[b]Historic Period[/b]

• Roman Empire (500 BC - 300 AD) [Graham Cole]

• Barbarian Tribes (200-400 AD)

• Byzantine Empire (500- 1453 AD)

• Mongol Empire (220 BC - 1360 AD)

• Mayan (1000BC–1500 AD)

• Aztec empire (1400-1519 AD)

• Inca Empire (1438-1538 AD)

• Europe
- Viking (780-1100AD)
- Norman (1000-1400)
- Anglo-Saxon (400-900 AD)
- Southern (Balear Islands, Spain,…)
- Celtic (500BC - 300AD)

[b]Modern Period[/b]

• Renaissance (14th cen – 16th cen)

• Enlightenment (16th cen - 1790)

• Modern Time [Foner]
- Spanish Civil war
- Balearic Traditions + many other nations' (pacific islands,…)
- World War I (II?)
- Palestine


[b]Physics of The Sling (and Projectiles)[/b] [Hondero, Yurek, Matthias]

[b]Sling-Related Weapons  [/b]
• Bolas  
• Staff-sling  
• Cestrosphendon [Mithras]

[b]References[/b]

[b]Index[/b]

I like it.  Good order.  You might want to separate Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic into three defined section; the paleolithic was very, very primitive, compared to the late mesolithic and neolithic.  In the paleolithic, flintknapping for example was very crude - whereas in the neolithic some cultures had some knowledge of bronze, if not copper.  The bow wasn't around in the paleolithic, for example.  I also found a picture in a book about prehistory (a children's book - you can find all sorts if you look about) of some slingstones at maiden castle, that were reportedly used for repelling the Romans.  Or not, as the case in fact was, because the Britons were annihilated.  I'll scan it or something.

Celtic slings would be bronze age/iron age borderline, so either would be ok.  In fact, maiden castle was a British/Celtic fort, so the slingstones found there would be part of that proposed section.

What about Hebrew slingers? The time of the Judges was the late Bronze age. David lived in the Iron age. I don't know if the "age" matters, put the Hebrews where you want. I think you need to include the Hebrews, David is the most famous slinger!

The Anglo-Saxons are late Iron Age, and they did develop quite good steel making technology.  I am not sure whether the Normans need a whole sub-chapter, but I don't know how much information on them there is.  The Vikings are certainly "historic age".  However, I disagree with doing a chapter on the Mongols - I am fairly certain the sling was not used by them.  Barbarian Tribes should contain all of the peoples mentioned in "Europe", because that is what they were in reality.
  The way I see it, there should be more actual content to the book, and less in the contents.  By which I mean, we don't want a book with three pages of contents and only 100 pages of text.
  David only lived in the Iron Age because he stole iron-working technology from the Philistines.  But I'd certainly agree with his inclusion - he is what everyone thinks of as a slinger.

Well, fine. You evidently know far more about this than I do.  Biblical history, and indeed the history of the so-called holy land and middle east, has never particularly interested me.  I suppose it is the sections in the Old Testament where it is essentially about allegiances amongst tiny tribal kingdoms that turned me away from the subject.  The fact that David got iron-working technology from the Philistines is one of the few facts I know about the whole region.

Well, you've got to remember that the Saxons, Vikings, Jutes, Frisians, etc are all basically Germanic barbarian tribes.  They didn't move away and suddenly become a different people.  The Huns almost certainly did not use the sling, and neither did the Mongols - the Hun/Mongol (and other central Asian tribes) weapon is the composite bow - they had no need for slings.  This isn't to say they definitely did not use the sling - it is simply that they didn't use it enough to leave evidence that is substantial enough to warrant an entire chapter.
 I agree that by adding in all the tribes and cultures mentioned, you would end up with a hefty volume.  What I was thinking was, some of them could be clumped together, and make a substantial chapter, rather than a lot of little sub-chapters.  I don't agree with the actual content; I think that chapters on cultures who used the sling, but whom most people haven't heard of, are a very good thing.  That helps to back up the idea of the sling as a universal weapon.

Let's face it, a book has one, two, or perhaps three authors at most.  What you are creating -- where many people work on one, small chapter or sub-chapter -- is properly called an encyclopedia.  Encyclopedias have editor(s) to keep the sections complete and coherent.  My two cents.