Neanderthals reportedly had red hair genes.
Although these mummies are from a time later than the Neandethal period, could they be a later variant that was lost from Europe when the neanderthals disappeared?
Perhaps driven out by homo sapiens into the vast Asian steppes looking for the clan of the Cave Bear...
Where o where is Eric Von Daniken when you need him?
(and thanks to BG for posting)
The Neanderthal red-hair gene is unlike the homo sapiens red-hair gene. Just how, I am not sure, but read that somewhere.
These people were part of the early Indo-European culture that formed just north of the Black Sea. It was the seed bed of the Indo European culture. Some of them split off to the east and ended up in the Tarim basin. Others moved west, taking their Indo-European languages with them.