The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c14.21

c14.21

More specifically military are baked clay missiles, of which three categories may be distinguished. First, there are numerous clay pellets, either round and about an inch in diameter, or ovoid and up to 2½ in. in length. The identification of these as sling-pellets is not always certain, but no doubt attaches to the general function of the other two categories, which are lumps of clay first compressed in the hand and then lightly baked. The two categories differ only in weight, one series approximating to 6 ounces, the other to 12. Many were found in 1950 at the foot of the citadel-mound in the vicinity of the Great Granary, and a concentration of ninety-eight 6-ouncers was discovered in the material immediately covering the parapet-walk which interconnects two of the south-eastern towers of the citadel (p. 28). Previously, a hoard of “fifty or more” had been found stored in a large pottery vessel in the lesser of the two halls on the southern half of the citadel (p. 34), and “further south in the same area quite a number of large pottery balls were found lying in confusion upon the ground outside a very thick enclosure wall. Their shape, material, and the spot where they were found certainly lead us to regard them as weapons of offence or, rather, of defence.”¹ Whether they were thrown by hand or projected from a sling can only be guessed, but the former is likely enough.² Stone-throwing is a developed art in some parts of the East.