Grady Persell, who is traveling with me, found a sling stone at Khirbet Qeiyafa this past Thursday.
Grady Persell holding a sling stone he found at Khirbet Qeiyafa. It was discovered in the casemate city wall. Photo by Luke Chandler.
Many who see sling stones are surprised at their large size. Perhaps some children's songs and stories about David lead us to regard them as much smaller. Sling stones were weapons of war, capable of killing opponents from a distance. Imagine this stone flying toward your head at 60 or 70 miles per hour. Quite nasty. Photo by Luke Chandler.
This is not the first sling stone found at Khirbet Qeiyafa. Several were found earlier this season and several were also found last year. Still, to find a sling stone where David fought Goliath is always nice!
Bible, Archaeology, and Travel with Luke Chandler 
Is Paque wearing a HEADDRESS!!!!
He would call it a simple, effective Middle Eastern method of keeping the sun off one’s neck. No doubt he’ll enjoy expounding on that with you once he returns home.
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But how do you know that is a sling stone compared to other stones?
The question from Jimmy is very interesting, any ideas?
I apparently forgot to get back to this one! Must have stepped away for a moment on a busy day and forgotten to respond.
Any archaeological site in Israel has an abundance of rocks in all sizes. A sling stone is quickly recognizable by its remarkably smooth, spherical shape. It is clearly manmade, especially when compared with other stones. Other types of worked stones such as loom weights and whetting stones are easy to identify in the field, even for first-timers. Sling stones needed to be smooth and balanced to fly straight. A rough surface or an uneven shape “wobbles” the trajectory, limiting the slinger’s range and accuracy. Armies produced large quantities of stones that were soft enough to reshape yet dense enough to avoid shattering on impact. (Shattering disperses the stone’s kinetic energy, greatly reducing its wounding/killing power.)
In the biblical account in 1 Samuel 17, David did not have time to work a stone into perfect shape. He found the best ones he could in a creek full of water-smoothed stones. Clearly, at least one of those stones was up to the job.