Hollywood could not have conjured up a more striking looking movie character.
The 7,000-year-old Spaniard whose DNA has been deciphered by scientists had dark, possibly black, hair and skin coupled with blazing blue eyes.
Experts were astonished to find a combination of African and European genes in the ancient hunter gatherer, who they christened La Brana 1.
His remains were discovered in a cold subterranean cave 5,000ft below sea level in the Cantabrian mountains of north-west Spain, where conditions are ideal for preserving DNA.
Results from an analysis of the genetic material, taken from a tooth, appear in the latest online edition of the journal Nature.
Study leader Professor Carles Lalueza-Fox, from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona, said: “The biggest surprise was to discover that this individual possessed African versions in the genes that determine the light pigmentation of the current Europeans, which indicates that he had dark skin, although we cannot know the exact shade.
“Even more surprising was to find that he possessed the genetic variations that produce blue eyes in current Europeans.”
La Brana 1 had a “unique phenotype”, or set of characteristics, in a genome that was otherwise “clearly northern European”, he said.
His was one of two unusually well preserved male skeletons unearthed from the La Brana-Arintero cave system near Leon in 2006.
Both individuals have been dated to around 7,000 years old. They lived in the Mesolithic period, which ended 5,000 years ago with the development of agriculture and livestock farming in the Middle East.
Despite La Brana 1’s dark colour, the research revealed genetic similarities with Scandinavians from Sweden and Finland.
He also shared a common ancestor with people who inhabited the Upper Palaeolithic site of Mal’ta, near Lake Baikal, Siberia, more than 20,000 years ago.