```Another example of the transmission of oriental and non-Christian insignia concerns the tamgas or ‘pictorial charges’ of the ancient Sarmatians. The tamgas, which occasionally resemble some of the more simple Chinese ideographs, reappeared in the tribal signs of the Turkish tribes, who advanced into the Near East in early medieval times. By this route, they are thought to have contributed to the system of Islamic heraldry which western crusaders were to encounter in the Holy Land.3 At the same time, they bear a striking resemblance to signs which emerged at a somewhat later period in the unique heraldic system of Poland. As a result, scholars have been tempted to speculate that the familiar claim about the Polish nobility being descended from ancient Sarmatian ancestors may not be entirely fanciful. Their so-called ‘Sarmatian Ideology’, their heraldic clans, and their remarkable cavalry tradition have all been linked to the long-lost oriental horsemen of the steppes. One hypothesis holds that Poland’s Sarmatian connection may best be explained as a legacy of the Sarmatian Alans who disappeared into the backwoods of Eastern Europe in the 4th century AD.4```
