"Whistling Sling Bullets #2"

[Marcus Minucius Audens]

>>>> Whistling Sling Bullets #2 <<<<

The whistling bullets also had the advantage of being smaller in design, than the ordinary sling bullet. This would, according to the researcher’s idea, determine that several of the special small missiles may well have been used at the same time, since this could easily have been done by a slinger.

However, in looking over the total number of sling missiles found, only about 20% of the lead bullets found at the Burnwark Site had evidenced any holes being drilled in them. This number of drilled missiles raised the question in regard to how much effort it would be to put together sufficient amount of ammunition for an attack. One of the answers might possibly be, that the bullets were pierced as a regular task and routine for slaves who had been trained for such. Reid’s comment about this was, “It is a tremendous amount of work to do, to just chuck them away.” On the other hand, we also have no knowledge if slaves might have been put to picking these missiles up after the battle for use in another action, which may be another possibility.

>>> Sling Weapon Secrets? <<<

Whistling sling bullets are a singular factor at the Burnswark Hill, since they have not been found at any other Roman battle site in Scotland. Now, there have been some ceramic sling missiles found at Greek battle sites dating from the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. Prior to these discoveries, it had been thought that the holes in these smaller ceramic missiles had been filled with poison. However, using similar sling missiles, Reid found in a large number of experimental firings (100) that poisoned weapons would not have been a primary feature. Reid’s comment about the small holes after the experiment was,” The holes are too small, and there is no guarantee, that these missiles are going to penetrate the skin; not only that,“ He continued,”They are basically inferior; they don’t fly as far, don’t fly as fast, and don’t have the same momentum [as larger sling bullets] -- so why put poison holes in only the little ones?”

Reid’s brother, a keen fisherman, who offered some insight into the possible purpose of the holes, suggested the bullets were designed to make noise in flight. His idea had been formed by the casting of a fishing line with lead weights on the line, he said, “They whistle when the line is cast!”

With this comment, Reid said that a bulb came on in his head, and he said,”That’s what they are about. They are for making noise.”

>>> Deadly In Expert Hands <<<

Slings were the primary weapons of slingers from the Balearic Islands, an archipelago near Spain, who were recruited into the Roman “Auxila,” to fight alongside the legions. Reid explained,”These guys were expert slingers: they had been doing this the whole of their lives,”

In the hands of such a practised expert, a heavy sling missile could actually reach speeds of in excess of 100 mph (160 km/h). Reid continued, “The biggest sling stones are very powerful -- they could literally take off the top of your head.”

Burswark Hill’s position in the area is just a few miles north of Hadrian’s Wall. This fortification / wall which contained a series of Roman forts and spanned the continent of Britain from sea to sea, and was a major fortification and spot that was handy to retreat to, if the northern tribesmen overcame a Roman attack. Reid explained that the attack on Burnswark Hill was almost assuredly a significant part of a military campaign directed against the native land-holders of the area in order to take the whole of Scotland north of the wall and place it under Roman domination.

Reid said that,” We think that the attack was an all-out assault against the fortified village, and the intent of the attack was to show the native peoples that lived there, the resutls of their continued resistance to the Roman Legions.” This campaign was probably executed between AD 117 and 138.

However, the tribes of Scotland continually resisted the Roman Army for in excess of twenty years. Finally, for a variety of reasons, Rome gave up her attempt to conquer the “picts,” as they called them selves, and in the year AD 158 gave the order to withdraw the army behind Hadrian’s Wall.

Reid continues his explanation of the area,”Scotland is rather like Afghanistan in many respects. The terrain is pretty inhospitable, certainly the farther north that you go, the isolation and long supply lines would make it very difficult for servicing an army that far north.”

Respectfully Submitted;
Marcus Audens