Weapons are tools, a class of tools optimized for causing injury or death. The first real weapon that I will write about here is among humankind's oldest (note: I qualify the term "weapon" ust now because anything is potentially a weapon IMO, a stick of gum, a tube sock, a bag of chips, a cell phone, the computer you're reading this on, and even if you were naked in an empty room, there's still your body, the floor and walls). When humans began to walk upright, freeing our hands, tools eventually gave us an advantage over animals which only increased as technology developed, one invention springboarding the next. I'm not sure what an anthropologist would say, but I think the first major leap in weapon technology was the jump from hand to hand and close range weapons (simple pummeling and piercing) to ranged weapons like the atlatl, the sling, and later the bow and arrow that could kill at a standoff distance. Even today, these are all excellent, basic survival tools that are able to be fabricated in the field. Afterall, if our ancient ancestors made them from things they found around them, well then, with our modern "sapient" brains, why shouldn't we? I quote again my favourite Native American aphorism "What one man can do, another can do".
A sling is a superb bit of ancient technology that allowed us to hurl a rock much further, faster and deadlier than just throwning a rock with the arm alone. It was probably first developed as a hunting weapon, and it finally gave us a unique dominance over animals, predators, prey and competitors. Furthermore, the sling was one of the first great equalizer weapons, because it's successful operaton did not rely on the trait of brute strength. All humans regardless of size or weight, gender, and even older children, could operate a sling with nominal effectiveness. I make reference to the Biblical story of David who was a boy when he faced armoured champion Goliath.
Many of us may have heard of a sling, or slingshot (stick sling, not the rubber band thingy that Dennis the Menace uses), but may not be quite sure about the mechanics of one, or the physics of how it operates. In it's most basic form, it is composed of a long (maybe 2 metres) piece of para-cord, thin rope, animal hide thong, shoelace, strip of cloth, or flexible electrical cord. Almost anything will do including natural vegetation (vines) with the only limit being reliable strength under load. A small loop is made at one end, to pass the cord through and then tighten around your throwing wrist, or thumb, like a noose. Then a knot is made in the other end, for grip. Then, bending the length of cord in half, the midway point of the cord is found. This is where the "pouch" will go. Now the pouch can be an elaborate oval shaped piece of leather, just a square of durable cloth, a mini-bowl fabricated with duct tape, or, most innovatively, I've seen small pouches made simply by knotting and crocheting the cord itself to form it's own receptable. Whatever the composition or improvisation, the pouch is designed to hold the missile, which could be almost anything, but most commonly a stone about the side of a golf ball or an egg. I personally think a spherical missile flies more accurately/predictably, but the ovoid or ovate missiles may infict more trauma. Some ancient missiles from Mesopotamia were almost diamond shaped with pointy ends. Sometime later (perhaps the Middle Ages), slingers started to use "bullets", which are pieces of lead with deadly penetrative trauma power.
There is another similar slingshot which is basically a sling mounted securely to the end of a stick (about a metre long). The loop end is just placed on the end of the stick, the sling is loaded and twirled around to accelerate the bullet and then the stick is suddenly pointed more or less in the direction of the target. The advantage to this type of sling is that the extra swing length adds extra velocity and therefore, it increases the range.
The physical principle of operating a sling can easily be understood by doing a simple experiment. Grab a single sock, or a plastic shopping bag. Place a small, object like the other sock, or something soft or not too big (especially if you're indoors) in it. Holding the sock or bag firmly, just twirl it around (overhead or to your side). Once the object has accelerated and gained momentum, release! It should go flying off as soon as released tangent to the point of release. This is a simple sling. And incidentally, the object being swung around before you released it is another tool/weapon, called a flail. For a flail, you don't release, but rather strike with the weighted, accelerated end.
For the sling, one end of the sling is tied or attached to the slinger. The other loose end is held, and in between, a very small "pouch" holds the missile, at first mostly by gravity, but then, as the sling is twirled around, by centrifugal force. The mass of the missile is accelerated and then suddenly released. The missile alone goes flying off in one direction, usually with much more velocity and distance than a human arm can normally throw the missile by itself (without the aid of a sling).
It is a serious, potentially deadly, silent weapon. Bullets can be accelerated up to 160 mph! It is easy to improvise. One almost always has the materials to make a sling on their person if you use your imagination. Same with the ammo. I learned how to make and use a sling in a survival school (made from boot laces and a bit of my uniform).
It does take practice to master, but the learning curve is surprisingly quick. In less than an hour, you can be regularly thwacking trees at 20 metres, and easily hurling stones the distance of a football field. It's such a useful survival skill that it is well worth the investment of time to develop. Practice can actually be quite fun. For safety reasons, I actually recommend going off into the woods some distance away from other people. Watching shots going awry is humourous in a "class" setting... like imagine a half dozen soldiers with their hands over their heads scurrying for overhead cover because an errant sling stone got launched straight up... and is on it's way to smash down somewhere. Also, with practice, certain advanced techniques can be learned like alternate "twirling" patterns, rapid reloading, and trick shots.
One can view photographs of sling designs and learn much more about them at http://www.slinging.com/
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