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"As I recall in reading about indo-european language history, the region where Tocharian was spoken was in the neighboring province to the west of Gansu. Tocharian being one of the more ancient indo-european languages. "

Yes. Tocharian A & B is an ancient and extinct language and is most closely related to ancient Celtic.

"I also remember something about some archeological finds of tall red haired men wearing tartan kilts near here. I believe there are also some blue eyed Chinese in this area as well today. "

Yes again. Below is a link to a post that covers this subject. Also, The Han emperors green eyes were lamented in many Chinese poems. And, their magic men were reported to have had red hair.

The Curse Of The Red-Headed Mummy

"None of these things fit well with "official" Chinese history, however."

Correct. I've spent some time studying this area and I'm about ready to declare that at one time there were more Caucasian types in China than there were Chinese as we know them today. I've already said that I would Be the least suprised if/when they open the tomb of the first emperor, a tall red-headed guy is found.

I've already said that I would Be the least suprised if/when they open the tomb of the first emperor, a tall red-headed guy is found.

I think that is probably a good assumption. People tend to think that late neolithic/early bronze age peoples did not move between regions frequently. In fact, they were probably better travelled than most modern humans.

It seems that this region has been a good area to be from for thousands of years. Seljuk and Ottoman Turks, the Huns, Mongols, and maybe Caucasians even further back, seem to have come from this area. This is based on both archeological and philological studies. I am very intrigued by how these two separate areas of study tend to support the idea of a caucasian/celtic population in western China in the late neolithic period.

By the way, I'm an interested amateur in this area. I have been fascinated by prehistoric migrations and ancient languages since I was a young child. I try to catch your posts whenever I can. Very interesting.

I'm sorry blam, I would respectfully disagree with the theory that Caucasians originated from what is now part of Western China. Caucasians would have arisen from the swathe of land from the Black sea to the Eastern edges of the steppes in Central Asia, but any finds in the Gobi or beyond would have been just forays or foraging parties.

Yes. Tocharian A & B is an ancient and extinct language and is most closely related to ancient Celtic.

I don't know -- as per the chart below, Tocharian is as related to GErmanic, hittite, Indic, Irani languages as it is to Celtic -- it's just another branch of the Indo-European langauge family