americablog had this posting up

Chinese villagers may have descended from Roman army

and it put me in mind of

amazon warrior women (i did post on this before HERE)
To uncover the genetic link between nine-year-old Meiramgul, the blond child of the mountains of western Mongolia, and the long-dead women warriors of the Eurasian steppes, researchers examined snippets of a particular type of genetic information called mitochondrial DNA.

Each cell in a plant or animal carries two varieties of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Within the nucleus of the cell is the full genetic complement, or genome, representing all of the genes that give an organism its particular characteristics and allow it to function. In humans this nuclear DNA is represented by two sets of 23 chromosomes, one set each passed on by the mother and father. One pair of these chromosomes determines the sex of the individual; a nuclear DNA analysis was used to determine the female gender of the warriors unearthed by archaeologist Jeannine Davis-Kimball and her colleagues during the excavations featured in SECRETS OF THE DEAD: "Amazon Warrior Women."..............
and here's a bit more in pdf format