I meant to reply to this earlier, sorry! Yes, the cord does show two different colours in its twist. This is quite noticeable. I can try an take some pics with an object for scale, but it is several inches behind glass so this wont be perfect. I can ask the museum for more information if they have it but so far everything I know is with the first pic I posted in the pictures thread.

Tidy work! Any chance you can punt me a hi-res version of that picture?

Funda,

That looks a beautiful piece of work. Very nice.

This picture belongs to my mail above.

funda

David Morningstar wrote on Sep 6^th, 2008 at 3:47am:



Since I have been absent of the forums some time I had not seen this topic, that is most interesting. Have you got more information from the museum? I think I´ll inquest what I can on the subject. I have a lot of questions:

- Why has not been disclosed this sling as much as the one of Petrie museum, being it better preserved and much more old?

- It could be that the dating is confused because Kahun was a town of the pyramid workers around the year 1900 b. C. that was left once the pyramide was concluded. The dating of Petrie sling could be mistaken and also corresponds to XX century b.C.

- Being foreign great part of the pyramid workers, corresponds the two slings to a non Egyptian culture?

This subject requires a research in depth, is not habitual to look at a sling of 4,000 years of antiquity. The truth is that it is too much well conserved in comparison with those of Tutan and Petrie museum.

I´ve made some investigations on the two slings of Lahun. The dating of both are debatable and it does not seems that dating with C-14 have been made. In addition, they appear in secondary archaeological deposits, removed by reusability of the tombs or sacking of them, both things very frequent in Egypt. The Petrie sling was dated by himself subjectively since it appeared in a heap of rests along an iron spear point, that evidently do not belongs to the bronze age of XII dynasty when the pyramid of al-Lahun was constructed. For that reason Petrie dated the sling towards the 800 b.C., approximately in the iron age.
As far as the sling of the Manchester museum, it is mentioned in a publication of the British School of Archaeology in Egypt, in 1920, titled Lahun I, the Treasure, by Guy Brunton, who collaborated  in the excavation of Flinder Petrie. This is the paragraph where he mentions the sling:

8, with its rope sling, is doubtful;
it can hardly be Middle Kingdom with the curious
little projection at the bottom, and with the rope
so well preserved. A late date, probably Roman,
seems to be indicated.

Really, the label of the Manchester museum does not say restrictively of the antiquity of the sling but of the one of the archaeological site of Lahun. Perhaps some of our braiding experts can find differences in the fabric of both slings. For me, Petrie sling seems to be more primitive, although better woven. Its cradle seems flat, whereas the one of the Manchester is  a little dished, more technical and adapted to hold the small projectiles found with the sling.

Funda:
I've made one of the tools shown above, but how do I go about weaving the actual pouch?

Elliot