There was no rubber in ancient times, what material did the ancients use to make slingshots?

The common slingshot now is a wooden fork (or iron), the top of the wooden fork tied to two equal length of rubber strips, the other end tied to a leather bag "projectile" pocket. (As shown)

(The question arises) There was no rubber in our ancient times, naturally there was no rubber strips, what material was the ancient slingshot made of?

China's ancient times there is no shortage of wooden pitchforks, the lack of rubber strips. The earliest rubber is rubber tree, rubber grass and other plants latex, processed into something with elasticity. Rubber trees first grew in South America, and later transplanted, Southeast Asia around the rubber tree. There was no rubber tree in our country in ancient times, and naturally there was no rubber.

Because there was no industrial base in ancient China, coupled with the closed-door policy, rubber was only used after the Republic of China. In other words, there were no rubber strips in ancient times, but there were "slingshots" in ancient times.

But the ancient "slingshot" is different from the current "slingshot".

The ancient "slingshot" is actually the predecessor of the "bow and arrow". The difference is that a slingshot shoots projectiles. A bow and arrow shoots arrows.

"Slingshot" appeared very early, according to historical records, the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, there is the appearance of the slingshot. Slingshot from the Three Emperors also

"Slingshot" meaning: "spring" that is, there is a small capsule in the middle of the bowstring, used to hold the projectile. The bowstring was first made from the flexible vines of plants, and was later replaced by a cowhide whip sheath or steel wire.

The "bow" was made by cutting bamboo. By the Ming and Qing dynasties iron bows appeared. The Peking Opera "Iron Bow Edge" is about the iron bow.

From the above, it can be seen that the bowstring of the slingshot is constantly updated with the development of society, and the elasticity is also getting bigger and bigger. In modern times, the emergence of rubber, and then the emergence of modern "slingshot". This is the modern popular recreational gadgets.

In ancient times, the slingshot was used as a weapon, but its lethality was not satisfactory. Finally just used to hit some small animals. Such as hares, flying birds and other tools.

Often people hold the bow in one hand, the other hand to pull the bowstring, the leather pocket to put on the projectile, in order to prevent hitting the hand in front of the hand holding the bow, the general situation is to hold the bow of the hand down, pull the bowstring of the hand up, as far as possible, the two can not be in a straight line, that is to say, staggered position, in this way, shooting projectiles will not hit the hand in front of the hand holding the bow.

It is said that Han Yan, the great-grandson of Han Wangxin, the male favorite of Emperor Wu of Han, was good at shooting slingshots. It was said that Han Yan, the great-grandson of Han Wangxin, was a good slingshot shooter, and because Han Wu Di was very fond of him, the pellets he shot were all gold pellets, and he was known as "the king's grandson who held the pellets", and he was followed by a group of children or beggars, who would pick up the pellets that were shot by Han Yan.

The "slingshot" was eventually developed into a bow and arrow, and even a crossbow, which are all derived from the "slingshot".