I am not sure if I do not digress too much if I start sketching out the archaeological discourse about prehistoric warfare.
Anyway, the pictures from Syria are real informative, but I must admit that I fail to grasp in how far they inspire to scratch building something. is it about the improvised weapons? I found these rubber band catapults, well funny is not the exact description when it comes to lobbing explosives, didn't we have such things in WW I ?