“We are under heavy plumbardment - send more plumbrellas”
- Roman centurion #4

In America, we had something like this back in the early 1970s. It was called "Lawn Darts." It was similar to horseshoes, but you played until only one was left standing. lol   Great video. Interesting concept.

Good work!  I'm jealous of your testing site.  I think that the concept is reasonable, and your conjectures regarding it too.  If this weapon had caught on and been popular for a while, it seems likely that some mention of it would have survived.  If armies fought one way that worked, it would be difficult to get them to risk a major change.  These cannot be used by troops in dense formations as a plumbatum can, and in more open formation a slinger can carry far more ammunition and much cheaper ammunition, and be effective at long range.  This is why I think that this weapon would not have caught on.  It isn't as good as a bow for hunting, and in war, if other weapons fill the same battlefield role as well or better, they will remain.  I'll look out for more of your work.  A cheap Go-Pro-like knock-off can be got for £30 or so and would add a lot if placed at the target end of these tests.  I'd recommend getting a radio mic for better sound.

There is definitely historic reference to plumbata being “slung”- I have always assumed it was done with a specialized sling, pathfinder style. This make’s SIGNIFICANTLY more sense and I agree that it is likely they would have tried this. To think this was your first time using it and you got that kind of energy, range and grouping! Professional Roman sappers would absolutely be doing this.

That sound when the one hits the target is so gratifying!
I was a baseball pitcher, and then taught kids to pitch. There are a couple of techniques that could be worth trying.
You're throwing technique is overall excellent, and had you grown up in the U.S. I think you would make a hell of a good pitcher.
One thing to try is to bring your left arm up instead of letting it go immediately to the side, use your elbow as a quick aiming point right when you are ready to release. The aiming elbow comes up with the lower arm bent in, then as you release, the left arm straightens out, and then folds into your body.
The other thing I always taught along with the elbow aim is to land your left foot straight forward and also in the direction of the target. It's pretty amazing how well these little things help. That being said, you are awesome, and I'm jealous of how well you do all of this. I love it!!

Never even heard of these but I would immediately imagine that the problem with them, is, if they fail to make contact your enemy can immediately retrieve them and throw them right back at you.

I absolutely loved this: the depth and detail along with the mix of theory, practice and historical context was just perfect.

Many thanks. As kids we used to make, what we called, ‘throwing arrows’. These were basically home made arrows, with fletchings and a weighted point, which were launched with a piece of string, knotted at one end.
The string was wrapped around the arrow, just forward of the fletching, looped around the knot and pulled out to the point of the arrow and held with it. The arrow was then launched/thrown by releasing the point of the arrow but still holding onto the string. As kids we could easily throw these arrows 100 yards or more and were very accurate with practice.

I love your content mate. You inspired me to make my own balearic slings. I have made two now and plan to make many many more.

We had those as toys in the 70's lawn darts .... what a life we lead.

that was a very interesting take on the plumbata. And i very much enjoyed every second of it. while we cannot be sure if it existed or not (in this design or similar ones) I would argue that even if this invention existed it would have not been a prevalent sight on the battlefield but rather limited. The reason: it would have been another logistical branch to take care of for a weapon that is essentialy (in my eyes) very limited for inter-unit use. the plumbata was used because it was small enough to be carried in large numbers, and can be thrown out from a tight formation. and the slingers can just throw thing that are much cheaper and faster to procure i.e. rocks, lead, clay etc. And archers have their bow, that gives them very good accuracy and range (the same goes for the manuballista). and the javelin throwers have their javelin, that would have more stopping power (especially when used with an amentum) not only in transferred energy but also because of its weight to give the enemy a hard time using their shields.
But adding to your argument, that the sling-plumbata would be used complementary, I would dare to say, that all these weapon (-systems) mentioned above are already complementing themselves in a combined-arms-strategy.
so opening another logistical branch for something that is more expensive than sling-ammo, less accuarte than a bow, has less stopping power than a javelin, and cannot be used within tight formations; a weapon than can do everything but nothing really better as the above mentioned weapons, would have probably not been worth it logistically, especially for the waining economy of the late roman empire of the 4th and 5th century.



but that are just my thoughts on it.
Again. really nice video and beautiful design none the less!

Thank you so much for bringing these stories to life. Brilliant channel, brilliant host.

I think this channel can get a lot bigger if you keep making content like this. Good luck!

Had these when I was a kid; "Jarts", AKA lawn darts. We had tons of fun with them.

I'd love to see you sling things at ballistic gel. It would be really interesting to see how lethal a sling might have actually been

THIS IS EXCELLENT AND WELL DONE. THE ANCIENT WORLD WILL CONTINUE TO INTRUSTIVELY FASCINATE US FOR A LONG TIME.

The mass and speed of these could easily cause mayhem on the enemy. Great video! I would try wooden fins or any other kind of material that is stiff, good luck on attaching them on the shaft though.

This was fascinating. You went ALL IN on this project!

Thanks for taking lawn darts to the next level.

Really interesting.
I love how experimental archaeology can give us some insight into the past.
Also. Nice throws. Im really impressed.