Whistling Sling Bullets Were Roman Troops' Secret 'Terror Weapon'

Live Science ^ | June 13, 2016 | Tom Metcalfe

[SunkenCiv]

Some 1,800 years ago, Roman troops used "whistling" sling bullets as a "terror weapon" against their barbarian foes, according to archaeologists who found the cast lead bullets at a site in Scotland.

Weighing about 1 ounce (30 grams), each of the bullets had been drilled with a 0.2-inch (5 millimeters) hole that the researchers think was designed to give the soaring bullets a sharp buzzing or whistling noise in flight.

The bullets were found recently at Burnswark Hill in southwestern Scotland, where a massive Roman attack against native defenders in a hilltop fort took place in the second century A.D...

Sling bullets and stones are a common find at Roman army battle sites in Europe. The largest are typically shaped like lemons and weigh up to 2 ounces (60 grams), Reid said.

Smaller bullets shaped like acorns — a symbol the Romans considered lucky — have also been found at Burnswark Hill and other sites in Scotland...

Reid's brother, a keen fisherman, offered some insight into their possible purpose when he suggested the bullets were designed to make noise in flight...

At the time of the Roman attack on Burnswark Hill, slings were used mainly by specialized units of auxiliary troops ("auxilia") recruited to fight alongside the Roman legions.

Among the most feared were slingers from the Balearic Islands, an archipelago near Spain in the western Mediterranean...

[SunkenCiv]

[BloodScarletMinnesota]

The ammo used by the Roman legions must've sounded like a slow dull "Beehive"
Drilling out a core from the ammo would make it lighter, so as to carry more quicker for the re-load.
The Romans had true diversity that really counts, diversity of weapons/engineering/troops that makes a difference in how history unfolds.
Sunken Civ is always finding this stuff, it's amazing

[OldNewYork]

Good idea. I can see it adding to the chaos of being on the receiving end of an attack. But it doesn’t seem to have saved Rome.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, that's for sure, the Roman Empire in the west (including Britain) only endured for another 250 years, and in the east until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. /s

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the kind remarks! Augustus’ disbanding of half of the regular army, and adding the equal number (28) of auxiliary legions allowed the Romans to use foreign military specialties in exactly the places they’d do the most good. It also helped to move the armed men of a subject people to an area where they were regarded as the enemy (like the Sarmatian cavalry, which was moved to Britain).

[OldNewYork]

And how did it end?

[agere_contra]

In Socialism.

[IrishBrigade]

But it doesn’t seem to have saved Rome.

the greatest civilizations are no stonger than its weakest elements...Rome defeated itself, as all great nations must...

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Another great article. You were very last night! Thanks again.

[Admin Moderator]

Photos from LiveScience can’t be posted since the site is excerpt link only. Thanks.

[Sirius Lee]

But it doesn’t seem to have saved Rome.

Imperial troops and superior technology can't save a nation from its own political corruption and moral decay.

[Texas Fossil]

Imperial troops and superior technology can't save a nation from its own political corruption and moral decay.

Bump. As is the danger in USA.

[OldNewYork]

Exactly.

[Texas Fossil]

Do you think it is possible the projectiles were in fact a cast ceramic material that was fired on a wooden stick instead of drilled?

[Tainan]

But the Scottish tribes fought back hard for more than 20 years, and in A.D. 158, the Romans gave up their plans to conquer the north and pulled their legions back to Hadrian's Wall.
"Scotland is rather like Afghanistan in many respects," Reid said. "The terrain is pretty inhospitable, certainly the farther north you go, and the isolation and long supply lines would make it difficult for servicing an army that far north."

Aye. The ancestors were an angry group.

[Flick Lives]

Do you think it is possible the projectiles were in fact a cast ceramic material that was fired on a wooden stick instead of drilled?

Interesting hypothesis. Although perhaps instead of a wooden stick, they were fired placed on a small steel spike. Steel would survive the firing temperature.

[Covenantor]

Ping

[Texas Fossil]

I am interested in ancient technology. Today, we often forget how ingenious ancient people actually were at times. Huge projects were done with very little in way of tools.

Such a military application was Greek fire. I’ve read there are not actual surviving formulas for it, but it was an incredible ancient weapon.