Hallo friends!
We already had some discussions about these (http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?action=search2 among others), but I haven't been able to find pictures of these finds.
So here they are:





Leather pouches, dating 9th-11th Century a.D.
You can read about them on Leather and leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York, The archaeology of York, Volume 17, General editor R. A. Hall, Council for British Archaeology, 2003.
It's a pdf that can be easily found on the net.
Greetings,
Mauro.

This is not a challange, if they are not sling pouches, then what are they?  Several of them look like the lining of a Baleric style sling, a couple look like pouches for slings and the rest look like they are or could be pouches for slings.  And I recall the thread about a hairpiece or ponytail holder, I didn't think it was correct, either.

The big hole in the large one could have been a result of  the leather rotting. All it takes is a small hole or weak spot and the rot can set in.  It also depends on the soil conditions, which is not mentioned in the article. Some of the artifacts were actually stitched together from thin pieces, also.
  I say we slingers make pouches based on the sizes and dimensions of these and give them a try. Were the ones with the experience, not the academics.

The stitchmarks on the sides of the leather pieces do rather fit the sling pouch hypothesis.

Mauro Fiorentini wrote on Mar 1^st, 2013 at 11:49am:

Mauro, you bring up an excellent point. I have taken multiple history courses, and while i am not sure about this, I think that nutrition improved dramiticly after the black death, and this allowed people(children) to grow larger. We all know that two identical twins, one malnourished, one fed but not "fat" the fed one will be taller and stronger if they lived the same. We do know that stone age people were shorter than modern people. It seems that once humans had a stable food source, it helped them grow larger. Also, this could be becuase we are all part neadethal, but back then people were not "alloyed" with them (for lack of a better term). Also, after the argicultural revolution, people were larger and better fed. There is archeological evidence for this, I just cant remember all of what we talked about in a class I slept in ever other day
I think that mostly explains the smaller knives. plus that there was reduced reliance on knives, more on that later.
More evidence- The people with the most varied foods have historicly been the conquerors, not the conquerees.
-Squirrel

You made me think about the fact that leather tends to shrink when it's dry.
Could it be the case here?
Thearos?
Greetings,
Mauro.

Can someone tell me where to find the actual measurments, please. 

I have a friend who found a leather shoe from the US Civil War.  When he got finished stabalizing it, it might have fit a skinny 6 year old.  Between being in an old filled in outhouse for over 100 years and however he stabilized it, the leather shrunk to smaller than 1/2 is original size.  Could that have happened?

I have the book. I'll look it up