Sling ( weapon ) A sling is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt projectile such as a stone , clay or lead " sling - bullet " . It is also known as the shepherd ' s sling . A sling has a small cradle or " pouch " in the middle of two lengths of cord . The " sling stone " is placed in the pouch . The middle finger or thumb is placed through a loop on the end of one cord , and a tab at the end of the other cord is placed between the thumb and forefinger . The sling is swung in an arc , and the tab released at a precise moment . This frees the projectile to fly to the target . The sling essentially works by extending the length of a human arm , thus allowing stones to be thrown much farther than they could be by hand . The sling is inexpensive and easy to build . It has historically been used for hunting game and in combat . Film exists of Spanish Civil War combatants using slings to throw grenades over buildings into enemy positions on the opposite street . Today the sling interests sportsmen as a wilderness survival tool and as an improvised weapon . The sling in antiquity . Origins . The sling is an ancient weapon known to Neolithic peoples around the Mediterranean , but is likely much older . It is possible that the sling was invented during the Upper Paleolithic at a time when new technologies such as the atlatl and the bow and arrow were emerging . With the exception of Australia , where spear throwing technology such as the woomera predominated , the sling became common all over the world , although it is not clear whether this occurred because of cultural diffusion or independent invention . Archaeology . Whereas sling - bullets are common finds in the archaeological record , slings themselves are rare . This is both because a sling ' s materials are biodegradable and because slings were lower - status weapons , rarely preserved in a wealthy person ’ s grave . The oldest - known surviving slings — radiocarbon dated to ca . 2500 BC — were recovered from South American archaeological sites located on the coast of Peru . The oldest - known surviving North American sling — radiocarbon dated to ca . 1200 BC — was recovered from Lovelock Cave , Nevada . The oldest known extant slings from the Old World were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen , who died about 1325 BC . A pair of finely plaited slings were found with other weapons . The sling was probably intended for the departed pharaoh to use for hunting game . Another Egyptian sling was excavated in El - Lahun in Al Fayyum Egypt in 1914 by William Matthew Flinders Petrie , and now resides in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology — Petrie dated it to about 800 BC . It was found alongside an iron spearhead . The remains are broken into three sections . Although fragile , the construction is clear : it is made of bast fibre ( almost certainly flax ) twine ; the cords are braid ed in a 10 - strand elliptical sennit and the cradle seems to have been woven from the same lengths of twine used to form the cords . Ancient representations . Representations of slingers can be found on artifacts from all over the ancient world , including Assyrian and Egyptian reliefs , the columns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius , on coins and on the Bayeux Tapestry . Written history . The sling is mentioned by Homer and by other Greek authors . The historian of the retreat of the Ten Thousand , 401 BC , relates that the Greeks suffered severely from the slingers in the army of Artaxerxes II of Persia , while they themselves had neither cavalry nor slingers , and were unable to reach the enemy with their arrows and javelins . This deficiency was rectified when a company of 200 Rhodians , who understood the use of leaden sling - bullets , was formed . They were able , says Xenophon , to project their missiles twice as far as the Persian slingers , who used large stones . Ancient authors seemed to believe , incorrectly , that sling - bullets could penetrate armour , and that lead projectiles , heated by their passage through the air , would melt in flight . In the first instance , it seems likely that the authors were indicating that slings could cause injury through armour by a percussive effect rather than by penetration . In the latter case we may imagine that they were impressed by the degree of deformation suffered by lead sling - bullet after hitting a hard target . Various ancient peoples enjoyed a reputation for skill with the sling . Thucydides mentions the Acarnanians and Livy refers to the inhabitants of three Greek cities on the northern coast of the Peloponnesus as expert slingers . Livy also mentions the most famous of ancient skillful slingers : the people of the Balearic Islands . Of these people Strabo writes : " And their training in the use of slings used to be such , from childhood up , that they would not so much as give bread to their children unless they first hit it with the sling . " The late Roman writer Vegetius , in his work " De Re Militari " , wrote : Biblical accounts . The sling is mentioned in the Bible , which provides what is believed to be the oldest textual reference to a sling in the Book of Judges , 20 : 16 . This text was thought to have been written about 1000 BC , but refers to events several centuries earlier . The Bible provides a famous slinger story , the battle between David and Goliath from the First Book of Samuel 17 : 34 - 36 , probably written in the 7th or 6th century BC , describing events alleged to have occurred around the 10th century BC . The sling , easily produced , was the weapon of choice for shepherds fending off animals . Due to this , the sling was a commonly used weapon by the Israelite militia . Goliath was a tall , well equipped and experienced warrior . In this story , the shepherd David convinces Saul to let him fight Goliath on behalf of the Israelites . Unarmoured and equipped only with a sling , David defeats the champion Goliath with a well - aimed shot to the head . Use of the sling is also mentioned in Second Kings 3 : 25 , First Chronicles 12 : 2 , and Second Chronicles 26 : 14 to further illustrate Israelite use . Combat . Ancient peoples used the sling in combat — armies included both specialist slingers and regular soldiers equipped with slings . As a weapon , the sling had several advantages ; a sling bullet lobbed in a high trajectory can achieve ranges approaching 400 m ; Modern authorities vary widely in their estimates of the effective range of ancient weapons . A bow and arrow could also have been used to produce long - range arcing trajectory , but ancient writers repeatedly stress the sling ' s advantage of range . The sling was light to carry and cheap to produce ; ammunition in the form of stones was readily available and often to be found near the site of battle . The ranges the sling could achieve with molded lead glandes was only topped by the strong composite bow or , centuries later , the heavy English longbow , both at massively greater cost . Caches of sling ammunition have been found at the sites of Iron Age hill forts of Europe ; some 40 , 000 sling stones were found at Maiden Castle , Dorset . It is proposed that Iron Age hill forts of Europe were designed to maximise the effective defense of slingers . The hilltop location of the wooden forts would have given the defending slingers the advantage of range over the attackers , and multiple concentric ramparts , each higher than the other , would allow a large number of men to create a hailstorm of stone . Consistent with this , it has been noted that defenses are generally narrow where the natural slope is steep , and wider where the slope is more gradual . Construction . A classic sling is braided from non - elastic material . The traditional materials are flax , hemp or wool ; those of the Balearic islanders were said to be made from a type of rush . Flax and hemp resist rotting , but wool is softer and more comfortable . Braided cords are used in preference to twisted rope , as a braid resists twisting when stretched . This improves accuracy . The overall length of a sling can vary significantly ; a slinger may have slings of different lengths , a longer sling being used when greater range is required . A length of about would be typical . At the centre of the sling , a cradle or pouch is constructed . This may be formed by making a wide braid from the same material as the cords or by inserting a piece of a different material such as leather . The cradle is typically diamond shaped ( although some take the form of a net , ) and will fold around the projectile in use . Some cradles have a hole or slit that allows the material to wrap around the projectile slightly , thereby holding it more securely . At the end of one cord ( called the retention cord ) a finger - loop is formed . At the end of the other cord ( the release cord , ) it is a common practice to form a knot or a tab . The release cord will be held between finger and thumb to be released at just the right moment , and may have a complex braid to add bulk to the end . This makes the knot easier to hold , and the extra weight allows the loose end of a discharged sling to be recovered with a flick of the wrist . Polyester is an excellent material for modern slings , because it does not rot or stretch and is soft and free of splinters . Modern slings are begun by plaiting the cord for the finger loop in the center of a double - length set of cords . The cords are then folded to form the finger - loop . The cords are plaited as a single cord to the pocket . The pocket is then plaited , most simply as another pair of cords , or with flat braids or a woven net . The remainder of the sling is plaited as a single cord , and then finished with a knot . Braided construction resists stretching , and therefore produces an accurate sling . Ammunition . The simplest projectile was a stone , preferably well - rounded . Suitable ammunition is frequently from a river . The size of the projectiles can vary dramatically , from pebbles weighing no more than 50 g ( 2 oz ) to fist - sized stones weighing 500 g ( 1 lb ) or more . Projectiles could also be purpose - made from clay ; this allowed a very high consistency of size and shape to aid range and accuracy . Many examples have been found in the archaeological record . The best ammunition was cast from lead . Leaden sling - bullets were widely used in the Greek and Roman world . For a given mass , lead , being very dense , offers the minimum size and therefore minimum air resistance . In addition , leaden sling - bullets are small and difficult to see in flight . In some cases , the lead would be cast in a simple open mould made by pushing a finger or thumb into sand and pouring molten metal into the hole . However , sling - bullets were more frequently cast in two part moulds . Such sling - bullets come in a number of shapes including an ellipsoid al form closely resembling an acorn - this could be the origin of the Latin word for a leaden sling - bullet : " glandes plumbeae " ( literally leaden acorns ) or simply " glandes " ( meaning acorns , singular " glans " ) . Other shapes include spherical and ( by far the most common ) biconical , which resembles the shape of the shell of an almond nut or a flattened American football . The ancients do not seem to have taken advantage of the manufacturing process to produce consistent results ; leaden sling - bullets vary significantly . The reason why the almond shape was favoured is not clear : it is possible that there is some aerodynamic advantage , but it seems equally likely that there is some more prosaic reason , such as the shape being easy to extract from a mould , or the fact that it will rest in a sling cradle with little danger of rolling out . Almond shaped leaden sling - bullets were typically about 35 mm ( 1 3 / 8 in ) long and about 20 mm ( 3 / 4 in ) wide weighing approximately . Very often , symbols or writings were moulded into lead sling - bullets . Many examples have been found including a collection of about 80 sling - bullets from the siege of Perusia in Etruria from 41 BC , to be found in the museum of modern Perugia . Examples of symbols include a stylised lightning bolt , a snake , and a scorpion - reminders of how a sling might strike without warning . Writing might include the name of the owning military unit or commander or might be more imaginative : " Take this , " " Ouch , " and even " For Pompey ' s backside " added insult to injury , whereas " dexai " ( " take this " or " catch ! " ) is merely sarcastic . Julius Caesar writes about clay shot being heated before slinging , so that it might set light to thatch . The sling in medieval period . Europe . By the Middle Ages the shepherd ' s sling was largely militarily extinct outside the Iberian peninsula , where the Spanish and Portuguese infantry favoured it against light and agile Moorish troops ; a sling projectile , while dangerous even against an armoured opponent , could be lethal against a light and unarmoured foe . The staff sling ( see below ) continued to be used in sieges and the sling was used as a part of large siege engines . The sling continued in use for the hunting of game . The Americas . The sling was known throughout the Americas . In the ancient Andean civilizations such as Inca Empire , slings were made from llama wool . These slings typically have a cradle that is long and thin and features a relatively long slit . Andean slings were constructed from contrasting colours of wool ; complex braids and fine workmanship can result in beautiful patterns . Ceremonial slings were also made ; these were large , non - functional and generally lacked a slit . To this day , ceremonial slings are used in parts of the Andes as accessories in dances and in mock battles . They are also used by llama herders ; the animals will move away from the sound of a stone landing . The stones are not slung to hit the animals , but to persuade them to move in the desired direction . The sling was also used in the Americas for hunting and warfare . One notable use was in Incan resistance against the conquistador s . These slings were apparently very powerful ; in 1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus , historian Charles C . Mann quoted a conquistador as saying that an Incan sling " could break a sword in two pieces " and " kill a horse . " Some slings could hurl massive stones spanning as much as and weighing an impressive 14 . 4 ounces ( 408g ) . Variants . Staff sling . The staff sling , also known as the stave sling , " fustibalus " ( Latin ) , " fustibale " ( French ) , consists of a staff ( a length of wood ) with a short sling at one end . One cord of the sling is firmly attached to the stave and the other end has a loop that can slide off and release the projectile . Staff slings are extremely powerful because the stave can be made as long as two meters , creating a powerful lever . Ancient art shows slingers holding staff slings by one end , with the pocket behind them , and using both hands to throw the staves forward over their heads . The staff sling has a similar or superior range to the shepherd ' s sling , and can be as accurate in practiced hands . It is generally suited for heavier missiles and siege situations as staff slings can achieve very steep trajectories for slinging over obstacles such as castle walls . The staff itself can become a close combat weapon in a melee . The staff sling can throw heavy projectiles a much greater distance and at a higher arc than a hand sling . Staff slings were in use well into the age of gunpowder as grenade launchers , and were used in ship - to - ship combat to throw incendiaries . Kestros . The kestros ( also known as the kestrosphendone , cestrus or cestrosphendone ) is a sling weapon mentioned by Livy and Polybius . It seems to have been a heavy dart flung from a leather sling . It was invented in 168 BC and was employed by some of the Macedonian troops of King Perseus in Third Macedonian war . Siege Engines . The trebuchet was a siege engine which uses the power of men pulling on ropes or the energy stored in a raised weight to rotate what was , again , a staff sling . It was designed so that , when the throwing arm of the trebuchet had swung forward sufficiently , one end of the sling would automatically become detached and release the projectile . Some trebuchets were small and operated by a very small crew ; however , unlike the onager , it was possible to build the trebuchet on a gigantic scale : such giants could hurl enormous rocks at huge ranges . Trebuchets are , in essence , mechanised slings . Slings today . Classic woolen slings are still in use in the Middle East by Arab nomads and Bedouins to ward off jackals and hyenas . They were also used during the various Palestinian Intifada s against modern army personnel and riot police . The sling is used today as a weapon primarily by protestors , to launch either stones or incendiary devices , such as Molotov cocktails . International Brigades used slings to throw grenades during the Spanish Civil War . Similarly , the Finns made use of sling - launched Molotov cocktails in the Winter War against Soviet tanks . Slings were also used in the 2008 disturbances in Kenya . The sling is of interest to athletes who desire to break distance records ; the best modern material is a polyester twine ( trade name Dacron ) . Traditional slinging is still practiced as it always has been in the Balearic Islands , and competitions and leagues are common . In the rest of the world , the sling is primarily a hobby weapon , and a growing number of people make and practice with them . In recent years ' slingfests ' have been held in Wyoming , USA , in September 2007 and in Staffordshire , England , in June 2008 . According to the Guinness Book of World Records , the current record for the greatest distance achieved in hurling an object from a sling is : , using a long sling and a dart . This was achieved by David Engvall at Baldwin Lake , California , USA on 13 September 1992 . Those of a more traditional bent may prefer the Guinness record for slinging a stone : , using a long sling and a ovoid stone , set by Larry Bray in Loa , Utah , USA on 21 August 1981 . The principles of the sling may find use on a larger scale in the future ; proposals exist for tether propulsion of spacecraft , which functionally is an oversized sling to propel a spaceship . Sling methods . A skillful throw requires just one rapid rotation . Some slingers will rotate the sling slowly once or twice to seat the projectile in the cradle . One makes an overhand throw , using the sling to extend one ' s arm . The motion is similar to bowling a cricket ball . This is relatively accurate , instinctive and quite powerful . One faces 60 degrees away from the target , with one ' s non - throwing hand closest to the target : thus , imagining the thrower at the center of a large horizontal circle with the target at the 12 o ' clock position , a right - handed thrower would orient one ' s body toward 2 o ' clock , with the arm rotating vertically in the 12 o ' clock plane . The coordinated motion is to move every part of the body , legs , waist , shoulders , arms , elbows and wrist in the direction of the target in order to add as much speed as possible to the stone . One releases the projectile near the top of the swing , where the projectile will proceed roughly parallel to the surface of the earth . Another method of release said to be favoured by slingers firing into grouped or massed targets is an underhand throw . The motion is similar to that of throwing a softball . The trajectory arc is relatively high . The thrower stands 60 degrees away from the target , and takes one step forward from the trailing foot , letting the sling swing forward . Range is said to be increased with this method , sacrificing accuracy . Several historians have conjectured that this was the most commonly used method in ancient warfare due to its practicality . There are also sideways releases , in which the swing goes around ; however , these throws make it very easy to release the projectile at a slightly wrong time and miss the target .