The draco standard of Niederbieber 3rd C. CE

"The Draco comprises of three elements: the head: the tail or body and the noise-making device. The head was perhaps the least difficult since the craftsman had the example of the Niederbieber Draco on which to base their re-creation. The head consists of two copper parts, upper and lower, which are riveted together to create an open mouth and in addition the eye-holes are unfilled (to promote air passage?). The tail was more problematic as no tail has survived or been discovered in excavations. The tail for the experimental Draco was based on the one shown on Trajan’s column and was made of silk because of its weight and density. From the illustration on the column, it appeared that the tail was attached to the head by means of a drawstring, which meant it could be removed from the head easily – presumably for the purpose of cleaning. It was estimated that the tail was approximately 9 foot long.

When it came to the noisemaker, the archaeologists were firmly in the dark. There are no clear references in the written or pictorial evidence as to what made the sound. In examining the excavated examples, it did not appear that the Draco head had any fittings apart from those which attached it to its pole. This suggested that the noisemaker s were not fitted to the head and so the logical conclusion that follow from this work that they were fitted to the pole. After experimenting of a number of different types of whistles the team settled on Chinese kite whistles, which themselves date from ancient times. It is known that examples of these whistles traveled into Western Europe in ancient times and so these seemed a plausible method to choose. During the experiments, these were initially fitted on the pole inside the head, but due to the reduced airflow they made no sound whatsoever. An alternative was sought and they were re-positioned on the pole just below the head. This proved a great success as even if the horse was walking, a good sound could be heard if the wind was in the right direction. At a gallop into the wind it was found that the sound can be heard above horse’s hooves at a distance of at least 200 m."

-taken from petesfavouritethings

The draco standard of Niederbieber 3rd C. CE. The only fully preserved draco standard. Found in the Limes fortress of Niederbieber.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Draco_standard_of_Niederbieber,_the_only_fully_preserved_draco,_found_in_the_Limes_fortress_of_Niederbieber,_Landesmuseum_Koblenz,_Germany_(50849293708).jpg

http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/draco.htm

https://twitter.com/romanhistory1/status/1125683718071439360

Quote:

https://petesfavouritethings.blog/2014/04/13/the-draco/