7000 Year Old Mesolithic Individual had Dark Skin, Blue Eyes

La Braña 1- a 7,000 year old individual who lived during the Mesolithic Period had dark skin and blue eyes. The latest study on the ancient human argues that fair-skin is a recent adaptation.

The study, conducted by researchers at Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and colleagues also found that La Braña 1 ate plants and was lactose intolerant.

The Mesolithic age or Middle Stone Age lies between Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age), where humans made crude stone tools, and the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age), where humans took up agriculture.

In other words, the Mesolithic man represents a whole group of early Europeans who transitioned from being hunter gatherers to agriculturists.

Previously, researchers had believed that the Europeans from the middle stone age were mostly fair-skinned due to low ultraviolet radiation at the higher altitudes, AFP reported.

For the present study, researchers analyzed DNA extracted from La Braña 1 tooth.

"Until now, it was assumed that light skin color evolved quite early in Europe, (during) the Upper Palaeolithic... But this is clearly not the case," study co-author Carles Lalueza-Fox from Spain's Evolutionary Biology Institute, told AFP.

According to Lalueza-Fox, fair-skinned Europeans might have appeared in the Neolithic period.

Remains of the Mesolithic individuals -La Braña 1 and 2- were found at La Braña-Arintero site in Valdelugueros (León, Spain). The cave, where the bones were found, is located 1,500 meters below sea level. Until the discovery of the La Brañas, researchers had to rely on genome of Otzi the Iceman, which is a 5,300-year-old mummy that was found in 1991 in the Alps.

The study is published in the journal Nature.