I was reading into a (psuedo)archaeological belief by a collection of people who claim that New Zealand was previously populated by red-haired caucasians, either Celts or an Indo-Aryan tribe from India, and that they are the reason why some (supposedly non-mixed) Maori have striking red hair and green eyes, as a documentary on the subject was just recently pulled from New Zealand television amidst a storm of criticism.
I was reading through this blog of people involved who made claims that they found West Eurasian skeletons in some Northland caves that a university refused to have DNA tested (as usual psuedohistory tends to co-habitate with conspiracy theories about why it is not taken as standard history), but what caught my eye was the passing mention of a number of ancient historical figures in odd places who had red and blonde hair, and amongst them was the mention of **Emperor Rameses II of Egypt, from 1300BC. Thinking this a particularly conspiratorial idea, I googled Rameses II only to be shockingly surprised. Not only does his Wikipedia page give multiple sources confirming he had red hair, but numerous images also surfaced of the head of his mummy, which possesses a striking tuft of orange hair. The Wikipedia page also mentioned that he had an "aquiline nose" and likely came "from a family of redheads". In Ancient Egypt? 3300 years ago!?
I had always assumed that red hair, alongside blonde hair and other fair hair-colours originated in Northern Eurasia, for both Neanderthals and Humans separately. Red hair is commonly associated with Celts, but moreso historical Indo-European speaking peoples such as Ancient Slavs, Scythians, Tocharians and the like, along with other groups like Chechens and other peoples of the Caucasus, etc. are known for having a large number of red-haired people amongst their populations. Almost all of these people modern and historical are found in places nearby, or as a result of, Indo-European migrations and also in Europe in g, though I think I read something recently calling this a dated assumption and that these hair colours originated in Central European farmers, I don't know. Whatever the case, this brings me back to the question in the header: If an emperor of Ancient Egypt, in North Africa, had red hair in 3300BC and was indeed from a family of redheads, then where the hell is he from!? Because that doesn't sound very Egyptian at all. Could his family have originated from Europe? Anatolia? Was he the child of a wedding to a foreign princess? Was having Red hair and an aquiline nose common amongst ancient Egyptians in 1300BC? Could, similar to the Mitanni of the Hurrians around the same time period - a recent entry of Indo-Iranian or Other IE-speaking tribes have become Egypt's 19th dynasty? Are other Bronze Age farmers culprits for Rameses' heritage?
I'm very curious if someone on here could enlighten me, and maybe sweep away some dated assumptions or preconceived biases in the process, of why a Bronze Age Ancient Egyptian Emperor had reddish-blonde hair.
Not directly about Ramses, but /u/400-rabbits wrote a post about other pseudohistorical claims about redheaded mummies in the Andes, where he(?) mentioned that reddening is a well known chemical process post mortem.
Many Mediterranean populations are believed to descend from the same proto-indo-european population that spawned the populations you speak of. Although rare, it is not unheard of for people in the Levantine region to sport red hair - the famous pirate and Ottoman admiral Oruç Reis, the original 'Barbossa' (italian for Red Beard - this name was carried to his brother after his death) reportedly sported a red beard, though other sources claim it was a mistranslation of his name. Regardless, Auburn hair is not considered odd in Turkish and middle eastern populations. On the other southern end of the Mediterranean, Berber populations of Morocco and Algeria frequently sport red hair even today. It should be noted that, as the gene responsible is recessive, naturally over time, it will become less common. As another user mentioned, the red coloring may be a side effect of mummification processes.
I doubt very much these claims of a 'celtic' population reaching New Zealand in ancient times. An Indus river valley population migration is more plausible. I might propose European settlers of Australia being adopted to indigenous populations, or that it evolved independently, like the naturally blond indigenous people of the Solomon Islands. A genetic test would probably clear some questions.
However, I'm not sure I understand the connection to Rameses; while Egypt is closer to NZ than, say Europe, it is still quite far away, with no indigenous populations of red heads appearing along any possible route taken
