One of the signature weapons of the ancient Chamorro warrior besides the spear and machete-style club was the sling and slingstone, Acho' Atupat.

The slings were made of Pandanus or Coconut fiber and were often passed from father to son or from mother to son.

The stones were sharpened on both ends and usually made from either limestone, basalt or fire-hardened clay. 

I have been working with Jute, Sisal, Coconut and Pandanus fibers to create replicas of these ancient weapons and maintain the spirit of the craft and skill. The style of the slings are consistent with artifacts and illustrations from various collections. The preferred materials to make the slings are Pandanus and Coconut however Jute and Sisal make fine and functional reproductions.

Jute

Coconut

Those are really neat!

Wow Pikaru, those slings are beautiful. Good job!

Those are beautifully done, Pikaru.

I had no idea that they were such valued items as to be passed down through families. What kind of length are these?

wanderer wrote on May 3^rd, 2012 at 3:43am:


Most of these measure between 24-32 inches long from the center of the pouch to the end of the finger loop. I usually don't measure as I braid, I just braid and 'eyeball' it as I go. My reference pieces vary greatly in length and style.
I'm not trying to get pinpoint historically accurate in the reproductions as much as I want to maintain the general look and spirit. Even the museum pieces are sometimes modern reproductions made by local craftsmen and pieces from collections that I've seen don't seem to date back to antiquity, maybe 1920 or so.
I am not a weaver and don't have access now to native weavers willing to share thier craft and no native materials that I can go out and gather here in Colorado so materials like pandanus and good coconut fiber are hard to come by right now.
Overall it's a learning process and gives me a creative outlet without requiring a lot of room or tooling to do.

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Thanks for the interesting information.