Battles & Wars › Prehistory & first cities › Bow and arrow
Sling
probably Stone Age; Neolithic sling stones c. 7000 BC· Invention or discovery· Weapons, armor & warships
DebatedHistorians or scientists disagree about what happened, when, or why.
A pouch on two cords that whirls a stone or clay bullet and lets it fly: a cheap but deadly ranged weapon.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
The slinger swings the loaded pouch and lets go of one cord at the right moment, sending the stone out at high speed. Cords and pouches rot, so the evidence is mostly ammunition: shaped clay and stone balls appear at Near Eastern farming villages from around 7000 BC. Later armies cast bullets of lead. Assyrian reliefs show slinger units; Greek writers praised Rhodian slingers; Balearic islanders served Carthage and Rome. Skilled slingers could outrange many archers of their day.
Why it matters
Cheap and light, the sling gave poor or lightly armed troops real killing power. Slingers remained standard missile troops from Assyria to Rome.
How we know
Thousands of clay, stone and lead bullets from sites such as Hamoukar and Lachish, Assyrian palace reliefs, writers like Xenophon, and inscribed Greek and Roman lead shot.
Still debated
Whether Neolithic clay balls were sling bullets, counting tokens or something else is debated, so the sling's true age is unknown.
Connections (3)
▸Destruction of Hamoukar: early evidence of a city siege was fought with clay bullets from the SlingMostly agreed
The connection
Hamoukar's ruins held about 1,200 oval clay bullets, many found where they landed, plus over 100 larger clay balls. They suggest attackers used massed slingers to clear the walls before breaking in, one of the earliest signs of the sling as a battle weapon.
When and how
Northeastern Syria, about 3500 BC; excavated by a University of Chicago–Syrian team led by Clemens Reichel.
How sure are we?
Bullets found in the destruction layer against collapsed walls, some reportedly flattened by impact.
Debates and open questions
What the larger clay balls were for is unclear; some may have been thrown by hand. Defenders may also have used slings.
▸David and Goliath (according to the Bible) is won, in the story, with a SlingLegend & tradition
The connection
In 1 Samuel 17 the young shepherd David refuses armor and faces the armored Philistine champion Goliath with a staff, a sling and five smooth stones, felling him with one shot. The story reflects the sling's real reputation as a dangerous weapon in skilled hands.
When and how
Set in the Valley of Elah, in Judah, around 1000 BC; written down probably centuries later.
How sure are we?
It is a biblical story, not a verified event. Slings are well attested in the region, and Judges 20 praises 700 Benjaminite slingers.
Debates and open questions
Another verse, 2 Samuel 21:19, credits a warrior named Elhanan with killing Goliath. Whether any real duel lies behind the story is debated.
▸Sling armed Assyrian slingers at the Assyrian siege of LachishWell documented
The connection
At Lachish in 701 BC, Sennacherib's Assyrian army used slingers alongside archers to keep defenders off the walls while a siege ramp and battering rams closed in. Palace reliefs show slingers in ranks behind the archers, and excavators found many sling stones.
When and how
Lachish, in the kingdom of Judah, in today's Israel, 701 BC; Sennacherib's army against King Hezekiah's garrison.
How we know
The Lachish reliefs from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh, now in the British Museum, and hundreds of sling stones and arrowheads excavated at the site.
Debates and open questions
How many slingers fought, and how long the siege lasted, are not recorded.