[r9etb]

During antiquity, lead was a by-product of silver mining and used mainly for coinage. Dr. Hermanns therefore assumes that the lead was used as munitions for mercenaries provided by the Baleareans during antiquity.

Lead was used for coins, and therefore it was ammunition? What ... they're gonna throw money at the other side?

I can maybe see lead being used for sling shots, but wouldn't it would be a millenium before lead had any utility in weaponry.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Lead was used as shot long before gunpowder, it was very useful, and manufactured as needed. Then as now, soldiers in hand-to-hand resorted to throwing stones when the ammo ran low. The Romans had artillery, but no gunpowder.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> but wouldn’t it would be a millenium before lead had any utility in weaponry.

Else I’m mistaken, I believe the antient Greeks used to cast lead into hunks of a standard size, weight and shape and use them in their slings — you know, Goliath-style. Because they were standard-sized a sling-man could reliably practise and shoot for accuracy. It was a significant technological advance over hucking odd-sized rocks out of slings: lead is denser, too, so it hit with a better whallop than a similar-sized rock did.