Recently, archeologists visited Burnswark Hill in southwestern Scotland. This spot was the site of a massive attack by Roman forces in the second century A.D…over 1,800 years ago.
The researchers found something unusual: small stones with holes drilled through them about 5 millimeters in diameter. When they looked closer, they saw that these weren’t stones at all: they were custom-made bullets made of cast lead.
In the days of ancient Rome, soldiers would fight with slings, using the weapons to catapult rocks through the air toward the enemy. Expert slingers were some of the most feared warriors in the land, and in their hands, the heaviest stones could reach up to 100 mph.
But these bullets were much smaller than typical “sling bullets,” which are usually the size of a lemon. They seemed too small to do much damage, and the holes in the middle were unusual. That’s when the team realized something mind-blowing: the bullets weren’t designed to cause physical harm at all.