A New Discovery from the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Jerusalem



Everyone knows the story of David felling Goliath with a stone from his sling - but did you know that sling bullets were still in use a thousand years later?
This summer, the 8th lead sling bullet was uncovered & identified by the Temple Mount Sifting Project.
Known in Latin as glandes plumbeae (“lead acorns”), such bullets were used by Greek & Roman armies from the fifth century BCE onward. Unlike stones, they were smaller, denser & had greater range & penetration. Their almond-like or football-shaped design made them hard to spot in flight, while many carried inscriptions or symbols - turning them into instruments of psychological as well as physical warfare.
Some sling bullets bear faint designs, though corrosion often blurs them.
Most sling bullets unearthed in Israel belong to the Hellenistic period, when the Seleucid-Hasmonean conflicts of the second century BCE brought fortified cities & guerrilla warfare.


Above, Greek sling bullets.

By contrast, Roman tactics relied more on infantry & siege engines, making sling bullets far less common in Judea after the first century BCE.


Above, Roman sling bullets:
Photo credit: Roger Thomas.
Finding sling bullets on the Temple Mount points to Hellenistic military activity there, possibly linked to the Seleucid fortress known as the Acra - a thorn in the side of the Hasmoneans until Simon the Maccabee captured it in 141 BCE.
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