The origin of the Tamgas of the Xiongnu

The article analyzes the whole corpus of sources on the tamgas of the Xiongnu. The author reveals the reasons for the emergence of tamga-like symbols in the culture of nomads, based on a circle. Analysis of the available material made it possible to suggest that the tamgas of the Xiongnu could appear on the basis of Chinese traditional symbols and hieroglyphs. The process of the birth of ancestral signs took place on the background of fundamental changes in the hieroglyphic writing in the Chinese empire, therefore each tamga was actually an ideograph expressing the basic idea, the concept. The end discs of the shingles of the Han epoch, especially from the territory of Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, represent the most important key to understanding the principles of tamgas emergence. The Xiongnu leaders' need to have their own signs, reflecting the solar symbolism and emphasizing the original connection of nomadic families with the Sky - was a historical necessity as opposed to Han China...