Brian FitzGerald December 10, 2021 Hawaiian Sling Stones A String Finds a Stone (he kaula hoolele i ka pohaku) Intro 1.1 From the first humans that discovered the mechanical advantage of propelling a stone leveraging centripetal force, mankind has modified stone and natural cordage for sur- vival. In East Asia spheroid stones of sling stone size appear 40,000 BP and purposely formed bi-conical projectile stones make their way to Near Oceania 3,100 BP (York 2014). Sling stones followed Austronesian expansion in the very first voyages from Near Oceania into Remote Oceania. In 1862 engineer Edward Tregear noted the Austrone- sian speaking people's preference of slings over archery. This was later referred to as the Tregear Conundrum (York 2011, 2014). The sling as common use in the Eastern Pacific, is well documented, in places like Tahiti (Hawkesworth 1773), (fig. 1). When the first navigators from the Marquesas and Tahiti reached the water's edge of Hawaii is- lands, they likely carried sling stones ashore. The archeological investigation of pre con- tact slinging is limited mostly due to the mobility of the artifact. In Hawaii, the well doc- umented (Mo!olelo) historical accounts provide valuable insight into sling stone (Ma!a Pohaku) in the context of warfare. It!s quite feasible early foundation populations may have been closely tied to the hunting of now-extinct flightless birds. The Hawaiian Ma!a Pohaku offers a unique opportunity to understand sling stone usage in the broader Oceanic context.