Slinging.org Forum - Hedeby Artifact Picture

winkleried

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Hedeby Artifact Picture
Feb 2^nd, 2010 at 8:57pm

I'm teaching a class on the Medieval Sling this weekend. I googled Hedeby Sling and went to images and found this forum

http://www.aarhus-middelalder.dk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3877&sid=e734a9bf13d287a0...

There was a post by forumite Mikkel and it showed the actual Hedeby artifact. (Course it looks like the forum is in Swedish ??)

Actuall Pic is
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z111/MickeDahlstrom/Slunga.jpg

Anybody feel like a quick translation from Swedish to English??? Or whatever this language is to English???

Marc Adkins

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Curious Aardvark Forum Moderation Offline Taller than the average Dwarf Posts: 13965 Midlands England Gender:	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #1 - Feb 3^rd, 2010 at 5:27am It' a sling pouch What's more it's been attached with loops ! Some sensible oldtime swedes there
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David Morningstar Slinging.org Moderator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 3430 UK	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #2 - Feb 3^rd, 2010 at 8:22am Very good find! I have passed it onto our local Viking group, they are working up to including slinging in their demonstrations.
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Thearos Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Take that Posts: 3417	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #3 - Feb 3^rd, 2010 at 9:24am How do you attach the pouch to the cords ? (no holes in pouch ?) Why is the pouch slit into strips ?
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winkleried

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Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture
Reply #4 - Feb 3^rd, 2010 at 1:18pm

This artifact dates from the 8th century, Just becase we can't see them in this ( Less than Optimum) pic doesn't mean they are not there. Slingbadger has the opinion that maybe a pebble was placed in the tab and the cords wraped around that and tied.

From working with My replica the strips cause the pouch to mold to the projectile better. It's another way of getting a cup like pouch

Marc Adkins

Thearos wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2010 at 9:24am:

How do you attach the pouch to the cords ? (no holes in pouch ?)
Why is the pouch slit into strips ?

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timann

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Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture
Reply #5 - Feb 4^th, 2010 at 12:30pm

Winkleried, I did a fast translation, to see if i could. Swedish to English it is
Slings
Among the distance weapons goes, beside the crossbow, hand bow and firearms, also the slings. Six slings, so called band slings, has been found on Helgelandsholmen. A band sling consisted of part by a sling cup, the pouch where the projectile was placed, and part by two bands or straps, which was attached to the sling cup. The length of the straps varied during the history. The length was also depending on the strength and ability of the user.

One of the straps had a loop. When throwing, the thrower, if right handed, placed the loop over one or more fingers of the right hand, usually the middle and/or the ring finger.At the same time he pinches the other strap between his thumb and index finger in such a way that he can let go of it fast. The left hand grabs the sling cup. The arms are lifted so that the left hand with the sling cup and the projectile is in front of the head and the right hand with the strap ends is behind. The sling is stretched out, and the right hand begins to turn in an an horizontal movement, while at the same time the other hand drops the sling cup. When the slinger gets the speed up,he releases the loop-less strap, right when the projectile is poised to fly toward the target. The difficulty in the throw is to to decide when the right moment comes.
To be continued...
timann

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David Morningstar Slinging.org Moderator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 3430 UK	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #6 - Feb 4^th, 2010 at 12:37pm Thats great!
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ilovepancakes Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Virginia Slings- "You've slung a long way, baby! Posts: 1237 Virginia Gender:	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #7 - Feb 4^th, 2010 at 12:41pm David Morningstar wrote on Feb 4^th, 2010 at 12:37pm: Thats great! Well done timann!
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timann

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Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture
Reply #8 - Feb 4^th, 2010 at 12:56pm

The slings from Helgelandsholmen are between 13 and 21 cm long and 5,5 and 8,5 cm wide. Their shape is either a drawn-out ovoid or rhomboid, and the ends has holes cut out for the straps, which has in no case been found.
The straps has, at least on one sling, been secured by a whipping laid outside the straps knot to the sling cup(fig 240).
The sling cup has been given slits or (in one case) a hole, to make the projectile stay in place, this construction was used during the middle ages and can be confirmed in ethnographic material.
The found slings gives a coarse and not particularly well made impression. They do not need to have been weapons of war, but might as well have been made for keeping vermin off cabbage fields and gardens, for hunting or as a toy.
The sling was as a weapon associated with low social status. This, in combination with the need for the slinger to be agile and usually not in contact with the enemy, meant he usually lacked heavy body protection.
The projectile could be natural or worked stone, molded lead projectiles incendiaries of different kind. Well into the 1500s the sling was used for this, by throwing grenades. By then a more effective type was used, the so called staff sling, principally a band sling attached to a staff, which increased the arms throwing capacity.

timann

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slingbadger Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Don't Badger a Badger Posts: 3229 Akron NY Gender:	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #9 - Feb 4^th, 2010 at 7:38pm Those are large pouches. I wonder if they were sling staffs?
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winkleried

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Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture
Reply #10 - Feb 5^th, 2010 at 6:37pm

Could be. Another possibility is that they were trying to get more bang per swing. Lose range quickly but ya dang sure don't wanna be the impact target. Two examples of this are the oversized pouches used by the palestinian Infatadah slingers, and if ya read Sr. Santiagos article about the Manchegan Sling, the original used a 17 cm split pouch.

Next weekend if I get some spare time I might make one with the reported dimensions and let you folks know how it handled.

Marc Adkins

slingbadger wrote on Feb 4^th, 2010 at 7:38pm:

Those are large pouches. I wonder if they were sling staffs?

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Thearos Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Take that Posts: 3417	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #11 - Feb 6^th, 2010 at 10:17am Why does a big pouch hit harder ? More "whang" on release ? (to use a technical term) yes I too noticed the v. long, rectangular pouches of the Palestinian sling-fighters. There must be a reason-- these are slings fired in anger
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Mordechaj Funditor Offline I love Slinging.org! Posts: 576 zagreb, croatia (europe) Gender:	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #12 - Feb 6^th, 2010 at 11:43am Thearos wrote on Feb 6^th, 2010 at 10:17am: Why does a big pouch hit harder ? More "whang" on release ? (to use a technical term) yes I too noticed the v. long, rectangular pouches of the Palestinian sling-fighters. There must be a reason-- these are slings fired in anger because you can put larger ammo in larger pouch?
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Thearos Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Take that Posts: 3417	Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture Reply #13 - Feb 6^th, 2010 at 12:22pm yes, that makes sense
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winkleried

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Re: Hedeby Artifact Picture
Reply #14 - Feb 8^th, 2010 at 12:16am

I measured my replica. It's the one with the dyed jutte cords. The pouch was 14.5 cm long and 5.5 cm wide. Don't have one in the larger size though. the one I have still works good as a hand sling.

Marc Adkins

winkleried wrote on Feb 5^th, 2010 at 6:37pm:

Could be. Another possibility is that they were trying to get more bang per swing. Lose range quickly but ya dang sure don't wanna be the impact target. Two examples of this are the oversized pouches used by the palestinian Infatadah slingers, and if ya read Sr. Santiagos article about the Manchegan Sling, the original used a 17 cm split pouch.

Next weekend if I get some spare time I might make one with the reported dimensions and let you folks know how it handled.

Marc Adkins

slingbadger wrote on Feb 4^th, 2010 at 7:38pm:

Those are large pouches. I wonder if they were sling staffs?

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