MARKERS OF MILITARY MOBILITY: TOWARD AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SLING IN ANCIENT THRACE (5TH C. BC – 4TH C. AD) with A CORPUS OF THE INSCRIBED LEAD SLING PROJECTILES FROM BULGARIA Glandes Plumbeae Inscriptae in Bulgaria Repertae

Abstract

The present study aims to produce an archaeology of the sling as a weapon in ancient Thrace on the basis of archaeological data for its ammunition. 522 projectiles are documented, of which 36 are stone, 45 terracotta and 441 lead. Typically, and especially in the case of the sling, the projectiles made of stone, terracotta and lead are in fact what has survived at the expense of the sling itself, which was normally constructed of organic materials. A comprehensive attempt is made to systematize the available data for each projectile category from all possible contexts, outline emerging patterns, and examine more closely whether comparisons with other regional data sets will help us better understand their spatial distribution on the territory of ancient Thrace. Although the main emphasis of the book concerns data from the Classical and Hellenistic periods, a small number of projectiles from the Roman times are also included in order to better trace the historical development of the sling as a weapon. Biographies of weapons are rarely made in the specialized literature, since more often the emphasis falls on the development of typological and classification schemes, mainly for the purposes of chronology. This cultural-historical approach represents only the first step, which must eventually grow into a conceptual examination of the weapon. The advantages of a more systematic study interwoven with a contextual approach in assessing the distribution patterns of sling projectiles in the interior of Thrace through the lens of foreign military mobility are demonstrated. This concept is based on the assumption that the geographical distribution of archaeological finds coincides with the trans-regional movement of an army during a campaign. Regarding the methodology, the empirical data on the use of the combat sling were examined and analyzed from an archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic point of view. A corpus of lead projectiles with inscriptions from the territory of Bulgaria, amounting to 146 specimens, is also presented.