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Sling stone embedded in shield (Read 5980 times)

David Morningstar Slinging.org Moderator Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 3429 UK	Sling stone embedded in shield Mar 4^th, 2011 at 12:50pm http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/future_exhibitions/shields_from_the_pacifi... Click on the number 12 picture, you will see "Detail of a sling stone in a war shield, late 1800s, Karkar Island, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea"
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jlasud Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Programming stones Posts: 2358 Transilvania Gender:	Re: Sling stone embedded in shield Reply #1 - Mar 6^th, 2011 at 12:07pm Really cool picture DM! I would have never found this one if you don't post it,thanks.
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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: Sling stone embedded in shield Reply #2 - Mar 6^th, 2011 at 10:00pm This is a great find. We don't get many pictures like that. Thanks.
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starhiker Descens Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 177 Eatonville, Washington Gender:	Re: Sling stone embedded in shield Reply #3 - Mar 8^th, 2011 at 11:44pm Makes me wish I knew the scale and that I could examine the construction of the sheild.
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darksidedsam Tiro Offline Stone, Spin, Sling! Posts: 27 Essex, England Gender:	Re: Sling stone embedded in shield Reply #4 - Mar 15^th, 2011 at 5:25am I think that the obvious deadly shot is the face or the head. I dont know if a body shot would kill someone thats embedded in there pretty well lol
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Curious Aardvark Forum Moderation Offline Taller than the average Dwarf Posts: 13965 Midlands England Gender:	Re: Sling stone embedded in shield Reply #5 - Mar 16^th, 2011 at 8:14am A body shot could cause internal bleeding, broken ribs and other injuries. It doesn't have to kill you to take you out of the fight.
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kuggur slingdog Ex Member	Re: Sling stone embedded in shield Reply #6 - Mar 19^th, 2011 at 7:19am Yeah, quite an impact, it destroyed the braided fiber work of the surface (and I bet that´s pretty tough stuff) and hed enough energy left to imbed itself in the shield. Not a hit I´d like to endure anywhere on my body....Cool find CA.
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kentuckythrower Descens Offline Illegitimi non carborundum Posts: 244 Kentucky, U.S.A.	Re: Sling stone embedded in shield Reply #7 - Jan 21^st, 2012 at 5:06pm I shattered a plank of an old tobacco barn with a stone, and whoever was carrying this shield, ought to consider himself lucky!!!
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IronGoober Interfector Viris Spurii Offline ...and now, No. 1, the larch... Posts: 1679 California Gender:	Re: Sling stone embedded in shield Reply #8 - Jul 19^th, 2022 at 4:52pm I cannot find the picture anymore The link is dead and my searching skills on the britishmuseum website are terrible. Perhaps Archaic Arms or AncientCraftwork could assist? I just remembered this image and wanted to look at it again and discuss given some things I've learned recently.
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IronGoober

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Re: Sling stone embedded in shield
Reply #9 - Jul 19^th, 2022 at 4:59pm

Nevermind!

I found it.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Oc1922-1115-1

The description is :"Rectangular wooden shield in three pieces, completely bound with red, yellow and black rattan and fibre forming a design on triangles down the central portion; a sling-stone is embedded in the shield."

How fast do you think that stone had to be traveling to embed that deep? I mean...it obliterated the rattan wrapping. That isn't weak stuff.

The shield is stated to be 29cm wide, so that means the stone is 1.35 cm x 1.8 cm, or about 14 cubic cm, at 2.7 g/cc that is about a 40g stone. The max speed I've ever slung a stone that size (so far) was 74 m/s. BUT... I'm not sure that even 74 m/s would do this to a shield .... so how fast do you think it was going?

« Last Edit: Jul 19^th, 2022 at 11:22pm by IronGoober »

SlingStoneInShield.png (1780 KB | 96 )

John R.

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MMF

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Re: Sling stone embedded in shield
Reply #10 - Jul 19^th, 2022 at 11:11pm

I wish there was more information on its construction. Was the shield originally made with three pieces? I assume not.

The rattan here might not be as strong as you think. The good stuff that's expensive in The States is processed quite a bit to remove defects. Plus it looks really thin. And no idea what kind of fiber or wood was used.

New Guinea appears to have several species of trees found nowhere else.

I do think it's possible that you would be able to do that kind of damage.

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Archaic Arms

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Re: Sling stone embedded in shield
Reply #11 - Jul 20^th, 2022 at 8:11am

The stone hit right at the seam between the two pieces of wood. I assume the braid has strands that go through to the other side, so there is also a gap between the wood (which can be seen on both sides). This is significant, as it requires a lot less force to wedge a stone into a gap, than it does to embed it in solid wood.

That being said, it still had to be moving fast to have that impact. Assuming this is a battle relic, the shield would have had some give being held in the hand, and the stone would have been launched from a distance. The damage is a lot more impressive in this context than if the shield was put up against a tree and slung at from close range. Lots of variables.
If someone put that shield up to protect themselves from a slinger 100m away, then that could mean quite high release velocity.

Regards,
Lewis

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Re: Sling stone embedded in shield
Reply #12 - Jul 20^th, 2022 at 8:08pm

You can see two seams in the shield. One near each braid just inboard of the braids. I think these divisions are what the description is referring to when stating that there are three pieces.

The stone hit about 1 cm away from the closest seam. If there were strands that went throught the shield, they would have probably carved or drilled out some wood so there wasn't a gap. Still, I don't think that would be an improvement over just using a single piece of wood. It's not a very big shield and a single piece would be more reliable.

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