Editing Sling (weapon) (section)

=== Archaeology ===
[[File:Slingers on Trajan's Column.JPG|thumb|left|Slingers on Trajan's Column.]]
Whereas stones and clay objects thought by many archaeologists to be sling-bullets are common finds in the archaeological record,<ref name=":0" /> 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 {{Circa|2500 BC}}—were recovered from South American archaeological sites on the coast of Peru. The oldest-known surviving North American sling—radiocarbon dated to {{Circa|1200 BC}}—was recovered from [[Lovelock Cave]], Nevada.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://braidershand.com/andean-history/ |author=Makiko Tada|title=A History of Sling Braiding in the Andes}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Robert |first2=Gigi |last1=York |last2=York |title=Slings & Slingstones|publisher=Kent State U. Press|year=2011|pages=76, 96, 122 |isbn=978-1-60635-107-9}}</ref>

The oldest known extant slings from the Old World were found in the tomb of [[Tutankhamun]], who died {{Circa|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 (food)|game]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashmolean.museum/gri/carter/585y-p1324.html |title=Image of sling from the Tomb of Tutankhamen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060403131635/https://www.ashmolean.museum/gri/carter/585y-p1324.html |archive-date=2006-04-03 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Griffith Institute: Carter Archives - p1324|url=http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/585y-p1324.html|access-date=2020-10-27|website=www.griffith.ox.ac.uk}}</ref>

Another Egyptian sling was excavated in [[El-Lahun]] in [[Al Fayyum]] [[Egypt]] in 1914 by [[William Matthew Flinders Petrie]], and is now in the [[Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology]]—Petrie dated it to {{Circa|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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/textil/other.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210072846/http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk/detail/details/index_no_login.php?objectid=UC6921&accesscheck=%2Fdetail%2Fdetails%2Findex.php|url-status=dead|title=Other uses of textile in ancient Egypt|archivedate=10 December 2006|website=www.ucl.ac.uk}}</ref>