>>Maybe some plant is very common and useful
Linen.  Made from flax stalks.  Practically all clothing in the East Mediterranean not made from wool would have been made from linen.  It's very strong, and would have been available just about anywhere there were people and spinners.  It's likewise mentioned in OT Bible texts.

[quote author=curious_aardvark link=1188133751/0#13 date=1196083952]Braided wolf hair :-)
Makes as much sense as anything but leather ;-)
Not sure wool would make a sufficiently robust sling.
[/quote]

  Well considering they had a variety of plants to make rope with, it could be made from date palms, papyrus and other high fibre plants.

The most likely leather source, sheep, really is not all that strong, when compared with other leather or fibers. Goat hide is a possiblity. I imagine trial and error plays a big part in this.

I have no way of proving if this actually happened or not......

A friend of mine when stationed in North Africa in the late 70's early 80's told me of a time when one of the locals made a sling out of palmleaves and went hunting with it......

now in my files at home, I have something that states palm leaves are used to make slings in that area.

Marc Adkins

[quote author=macka link=1188133751/0#14 date=1196130598][quote author=curious_aardvark link=1188133751/0#13 date=1196083952]Braided wolf hair :-)
Makes as much sense as anything but leather ;-)
Not sure wool would make a sufficiently robust sling.
[/quote]

 Well considering they had a variety of plants to make rope with, it could be made from date palms, papyrus and other high fibre plants.
[/quote]

The pictures I've seen show them as woven, looking similar to the old Egyptian Lahun sling.

I think it might be a bit much to say that slings made in the middle east today would be made out of the same things they were in David's day. I would suspect that those who use slings there would make them out of the same materials any of us would. After all, if slinging is a tradition that they've continued for thousands of years for practical purposes wouldn't it make sense that they'd have constantly been improving on materials and methods of making slings? And if the tradition hasn't been kept up, then modern slingers in the area would be equally at a loss as to how the ancient sling used by David would likely have been made. I think the idea of wool, some sort of leather, or a type of plant fiber are all possible and probable materials, but I don't think we'll ever be able to pin down exactly which one it would be. I am inclined to believe, however, that it would probably be made of the most inexpensive materials available. Even though slings were very important to shepherds, David was the youngest of 8, so valuable resources probably wouldn't be spared for a sling when someone could make one from free plant fiber for the cost of time and effort. Not to mention, David reports to Saul that he had chased down and killed both bears and lions by catching them by the jaw and striking them down to save a single sheep. Anyone who is going to go to that length to recover an individual sheep is likely to be very frugal, and wouldn't mind spending the extra time to make a sling from fiber rather than spend the extra money to make one out of leather or wool a little more quickly.

I disagree... there are knives traditional to all of our countries, but most people (unless perhaps some that live tribally) now make their knives out of modern materials. The most important tools and weapons will always be updated if newer and better materials become available.

At any rate, back to the question of what David's sling was made from, according to this website (You have to scroll down almost all the way to the bottom) the sling would have been made from what looks like plant fibers, some of them dyed, though I know not what athority they use to substantiate their claim.

http://www.forallbelievers.org/ISRAEL2006_1.html