Ramses II a Red head ?

[Lord Baal]

Apparently that's not unheard of among the Mongols; they tend to show a greater range of physical attributes, particularly in terms of hair and eye colour, than other East Asians. I've been told that it may be to do with their nomadic history- such peoples tend to breed more regularly with those outside of their native ethnic group, particularly with other nomadic peoples, thus providing a more diverse genetic background. The average Briton's ancestors may be British back into the neolithic, but the average Mongol may well have ancestors ranging from Korea to Ukraine.
Of course, it may also be entirely indigenous; there are other typically black-haired peoples who throw up a red-head now and then, such as certain Pacific Islanders and, as Lord Baal mentioned, some South American peoples.

I recall seeing a study a few years ago that mentioned an archaeological dig in Western China, Xinjiang I think, where a burial site was found full of red-haired people. They even had an apparently "Caucasian" - if one could use that term - bone and limb structure. Considering that Central Asian Caucasians were once widespread, it's entirely possible that the Mongols possess this indigenously, or acquired it from someone much nearer to home than Ukraine.

 

[Lillefix]

I recall seeing a study a few years ago that mentioned an archaeological dig in Western China, Xinjiang I think, where a burial site was found full of red-haired people. They even had an apparently "Caucasian" - if one could use that term - bone and limb structure. Considering that Central Asian Caucasians were once widespread, it's entirely possible that the Mongols possess this indigenously, or acquired it from someone much nearer to home than Ukraine.

Or perhaps it was the lost army of Marcus Crassus?

 

[Verbose]

You mean the "Tocharian" mummies, afaik Tocharian known to be a Indoeuropean language of the "centum"-group (i.e. geographically limited to modern Europe, except Tocharian), like this feller:

 

[Lord Baal]

You mean the "Tocharian" mummies, afaik Tocharian known to be a Indoeuropean language of the "centum"-group (i.e. geographically limited to modern Europe, except Tocharian), like this feller:

That would be them, I think.

 

[Dachs]

Those Tocharians are typically identified with the Yuezhi group, the people who ruled Dunhuang and the Tarim Basin before the rise of Maodun and the Xiongnu forced them to migrate, first to Issyk Kul and then to Baktria. And then they presumably became part of the basis of the Kushan empire. Fun times! Weird story.

I've been told that it may be to do with their nomadic history- such peoples tend to breed more regularly with those outside of their native ethnic group, particularly with other nomadic peoples, thus providing a more diverse genetic background.

Since that's basically Step 3 of how steppe pastoralist ethnogenesis works, yeah.

 

[Traitorfish]

I recall seeing a study a few years ago that mentioned an archaeological dig in Western China, Xinjiang I think, where a burial site was found full of red-haired people. They even had an apparently "Caucasian" - if one could use that term - bone and limb structure. Considering that Central Asian Caucasians were once widespread, it's entirely possible that the Mongols possess this indigenously, or acquired it from someone much nearer to home than Ukraine.

I didn't mean to imply that red-hair genes necessarily come from Europe, I was just presenting the extremes of the geographical area from which they draw their ancestry, one roughly equivalent to the Eurasian Steppes (and somewhat further, particularly in the East). I just felt that it may be useful to emphasis exactly how great an area that covers, and the diversity this would imply as to their genetic heritage.