The man above, Cai Junnian (nicknamed "Cai the Roman"), originates from a tiny, ancient village in northwest China called Liqian, located on the edges of the Gobi desert. Even among their neighbors along the Silk Road, the inhabitants of Liquian are known for their distinctly European features, including blue or green eyes, long noses, and even fair hair in some residents. Recently, a team of Italian and Chinese scholars uncovered evidence that may explain why.

In 55 BC, Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus led his army into Parthia, in modern-day Turkey. It did not end well. The wealthy Crassus was beheaded, and in one of the most crushing defeats in Roman history, his entire legion was thought to be annihilated.

According to Imeperial records from the Han Dynasty, though, some of these soldiers may have escaped, and fought as mercenaries in a war between the Huns and the Chinese in 36BC. Interestingly, Chinese chroniclers at the time referred to the capture of a "fish-scale formation" of troops, which historians have theorized is a reference to the "tortoise" phalanx formation perfected by Roman legionnaries. The town's name itself, Liquian, is thought to be a Chinese transliteration of "legion."

While the exact origin of their distinctive traits is unclear, tests conducted in 2007 determined that 56 per cent of Liqian villagers' DNA was Caucasian in origin.