roman outpost... in china??

[NormanGalway]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/02/wroman02.xml

This story strikes me as very unlikely. Crassus? That was quite a ways West.
Also, what's the deal with blood tests instead of buccal swabs?
Frankly, there is a less fanciful & more convincing explanation found at the bottom of the article.

[cacio]

Norman:

funny article indeed. It doesn't take much to start a legend. But there, they also seem to have gotten certain details wrong. Since when were Roman soldiers blonde and blue-eyed? Aren't we Italians supposed to be dark haired?

On a more serious note, I don't know about the Huns - I thought they were East Asians- but Western China was inhabited also by Indoeuropeans (some of them also blonde and blue eyed, as some mummies show), so there are probably blonde and blue eyed people all over China. The Uyghurs must be 1/3 Y-hap R1(a), if I remember correctly.

cacio

[Jambalaia32]

Anyone can be "Roman" ?

Norman:

funny article indeed. It doesn't take much to start a legend. But there, they also seem to have gotten certain details wrong. Since when were Roman soldiers blonde and blue-eyed? Aren't we Italians supposed to be dark haired?

On a more serious note, I don't know about the Huns - I thought they were East Asians- but Western China was inhabited also by Indoeuropeans (some of them also blonde and blue eyed, as some mummies show), so there are probably blonde and blue eyed people all over China. The Uyghurs must be 1/3 Y-hap R1(a), if I remember correctly.

cacio

Why don't they test the blonde blue eyed Romans to see what they are? Didn't the Roman Empire encompass all of Europe? Germany and France ran the Holy Roman Empire for a while,and Rome seemed to accept peoplefrom all over Europe as leaders,esp.regional leaders-it was like a multi -nation soldier brigade.We need to lay down for a fact Who and what is Roman.

[lgmayka]

but Western China was inhabited also by Indoeuropeans (some of them also blonde and blue eyed, as some mummies show), so there are probably blonde and blue eyed people all over China. The Uyghurs must be 1/3 Y-hap R1(a), if I remember correctly.

Yes, the most likely explanation is descent from R1a Indo-Europeans.

[Arch Yeomans]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...2/wroman02.xml

This story strikes me as very unlikely. Crassus? That was quite a ways West.
Also, what's the deal with blood tests instead of buccal swabs?
Frankly, there is a less fanciful & more convincing explanation found at the bottom of the article.

Yeah... hard to believe. In referring to another post here about Romans or at least their Emperors being blonde hair and blue eye'd. I think reading John V. Day's Book about the Indo Europeans would pique some interest. I think it's rather misleading. I just can't see the stereotypical Roman (dark hair, and brown eyes) being everywhere; but their cohorts such as Basque, German, Sarmatian, etc., that's a whole different story. Unless their was a Roman clone factory, it just doesn't make sense Romans from Rome itself could be all over the place. The Roman Empire was simply not all Romans, it was a confederation of different cultures, races/ethnicities into one big political entity. No different than what really goes on today if we think about it.

[cacio]

Arch Yeomans:

you're making a good point about the mix of the Roman army. As discussed in other posts, it included several other people, though I don't know exactly whom, and the timing. The early first century bc is probably still too early for significant contributions other than Italics. These must have come later, as Roman control on parts of Europe became stronger. Germanic and Slavic tribes were really not part of the empire, so I wouldn't know what their contribution was, if there was one at all. (And speaking about blondness, we really have to go to Germanic or Slavic tribes, not Balcanic ones. Certainly, there were a few blonde people around, but these were the minority. Also, I am not sure if the Roman concept of blondeness is the same as ours.)

cacio

[nas]

The Roman Army.

Yeah... hard to believe. In referring to another post here about Romans or at least their Emperors being blonde hair and blue eye'd. I think reading John V. Day's Book about the Indo Europeans would pique some interest. I think it's rather misleading. I just can't see the stereotypical Roman (dark hair, and brown eyes) being everywhere; but their cohorts such as Basque, German, Sarmatian, etc., that's a whole different story. Unless their was a Roman clone factory, it just doesn't make sense Romans from Rome itself could be all over the place. The Roman Empire was simply not all Romans, it was a confederation of different cultures, races/ethnicities into one big political entity. No different than what really goes on today if we think about it.

Hello,
About:Roman Irregular Auxiliary Units in Britain,

http://www.roman-britain.org/

Nas