Roman slingshot lead projectile

[Urien of Rheged]

I've had a couple of these off the same permission in proximity to a Roman fort and Vicus in Lancashire England. My mate seems to have all the luck with the Roman coins but I managed to unearth this today. Maybe not as nice as a coin but a historical ballistic nonetheless.

 

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[Almy]

Neat! Never seen anything like that before and didn't know they existed, but it makes sense that Romans would think of making those projectiles uniformly and from dense material.

 

[Chilli]

I've had a couple of these off the same permission in proximity to a Roman fort and Vicus in Lancashire England. My mate seems to have all the luck with the Roman coins but I managed to unearth this today. Maybe not as nice as a coin but a historical ballistic nonetheless.View attachment 2196286View attachment 2196287

That's a very interesting find that! I would never have thought they'd make them anything but rounded.

 

[Tony in SC]

Could be a hobble?

 

[Gare]

Unique find . are those teeth marks ?>

 

[scavenger1]

Hey Urien of Rheged you seem like you know your Roman artifacts. I got a question... I live in Florida in the USA and a few years ago a metal detecting buddy of mine claimed he found a Roman coin in Florida he said it was crazy deep and had about a thousand years of mineral build up on it, he was unsure what it was when he first found it but after some cleaning he was shocked at what it was. He showed me coin and it was Roman unfortunately I don't remember the date but it was ancient way before Christipher Columbus discovery. Urien (or everybody) what's your thoughts on this? Could it be possible Romans were in North America in ancient time if not what's your theory how that Roman coin got in Florida?​

 

[DizzyDigger]

Scavenger - This is Urien's thread. Be best if you started a new thread in General Discussion about your friends coin. Without pictures, it will be hard for anyone to tell you much.

Urien, that is a super cool find in my book!! I can just picture a soldier back then with a long sling shot, and then winging that out at someone in the battle's body/head. I believe that if wars were still fought that way there would be a lot less of 'em.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

Thanks for the interest folks and thanks for thinking my take on Roman trans Atlantic travelling has any weight. (I have no idea with regards to whether any Romans ever somehow made it as far afield as Florida. The Welsh Prince Madoc supposedly reached America in the 5th century according to some. I have heard in the past of ancient European relics being found in the US but I guess we could never know if they where brought over by settlers though)

With regards to the slingshot, the two I found previous I was less sure about them being these but they have been confirmed by the FLO amd are heading to a local museum.
To my mind this is even more obviously a slingshot projectile but please, I'm not dogmatic over these things and if you think it could be something completely different do let me know.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

A very unique find - congrats !

 

[CRUSADER]

I think it could be one, I thought they were a little bigger, I may have had one but I'm not near any forts.

 

[CRUSADER]

Hey Urien of Rheged you seem like you know your Roman artifacts. I got a question... I live in Florida in the USA and a few years ago a metal detecting buddy of mine claimed he found a Roman coin in Florida he said it was crazy deep and had about a thousand years of mineral build up on it, he was unsure what it was when he first found it but after some cleaning he was shocked at what it was. He showed me coin and it was Roman unfortunately I don't remember the date but it was ancient way before Christipher Columbus discovery. Urien (or everybody) what's your thoughts on this? Could it be possible Romans were in North America in ancient time if not what's your theory how that Roman coin got in Florida?​

Going off thread a bit, but hundreds of Roman Coins have been found in the US & it has nothing to do with the Roman era. I won't explain all the various ways they end up over there, as its off topic.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

I think it could be one, I thought they were a little bigger, I may have had one but I'm not near any forts.

The lemon shaped ones weigh heavier. One 61 grams the other 70.
The newer one is slightly smaller than those and comes in at 43 grams.
I've tried to rack by brain what else they actually could be, especially a bicone shaped thing like that but especially in context of where they have been found and also depth. Deep targets around here do tend to suggest antiquity, slingshot projectiles seem the only reasonable conclusion. Shame they aren't marked with a legionary number as was often the practise.

 

[BLK HOLE]

A Roman lead sling shot is really high on my bucket list but I doubt I will stumble across one here in Virginia. I have seen pictures of some found in the middle east that have the Legions number carved in them. I thought that was really cool.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

A Roman lead sling shot is really high on my bucket list but I doubt I will stumble across one here in Virginia. I have seen pictures of some found in the middle east that have the Legions number carved in them. I thought that was really cool.

There where all kinds of variants but those shaped like rugby ba - sorry "footballs" with little identifying legionary marks are just fantastic little relics. Typically I get a provincial backwater half arsed attempt 🤨
Beats finding musket balls and other bits of lead tat though. I don't know what the turf tends to be like over in Virginia but back in thr day here lead was used to botch up anything and everything and it's a metal that lies around in abundance. Very seldom do I find anything decent made of lead, though there have been a couple of rare exceptions.

 

[oldmxrat]

Very cool find, congrats!

 

[Sandog]

Just pure speculation, and not based on any knowledge of the subject, but the kind of aerodynamic shape of all three items seems like they could be consistent with your idea of projectiles.

 

[Digger RJ]

I've had a couple of these off the same permission in proximity to a Roman fort and Vicus in Lancashire England. My mate seems to have all the luck with the Roman coins but I managed to unearth this today. Maybe not as nice as a coin but a historical ballistic nonetheless.View attachment 2196286View attachment 2196287

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[scavenger1]

Urien, your slingshot projectiles are a neat find and congratulations on them, I think you're spot on with your analysis of them. Let me ask you something kind of related to them. I bet you have found so Roman coins in your days of hunting. The ancient Roman coins that you have found are they extremely thick with mineral build up when they come out of the ground or do some come out pretty clean, or is it a combination of both depending on where they were lost?

 

[Gare]

Urien O R Do you have any pictures of a Roman sling Shot ?

 

[Urien of Rheged]

Urien, your slingshot projectiles are a neat find and congratulations on them, I think you're spot on with your analysis of them. Let me ask you something kind of related to them. I bet you have found so Roman coins in your days of hunting. The ancient Roman coins that you have found are they extremely thick with mineral build up when they come out of the ground or do some come out pretty clean, or is it a combination of both depending on where they were lost?

I don't actually have much luck with Roman coins in all honesty. Over this past three years or so I've found 3 denarii and about 12 grots. All three of the silvers are in good condition but I don't think our wet acidic soil here is very kind to Roman coppers.
My buddy does a lot better with the Roman coins than I do though he does focus his efforts around rhis particular area which is rich in Roman history where as I get bored in the same place and tend to go off hunting random places in the hope of finding a long lost hot spot of historical activity.
Here are the denarii I've found. Im determined to add to them but as I say, theyre very elusive for me