Liang Bua Cave, Indonesia

Flores is a southern island of Indonesia, with an estimated population of around 1.5 million. Its human inhabitation was largely destroyed by the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake (aka the Asian Tsunami), but its stunning landscape still make it a popular tourist destination. Yet Flores, and Liang Bua Cave in particular, are most notably known in the anthropological and archaeological worlds for the 2003 discovery of Homo floresiensis, which is commonly given the sobriquet 'Hobbit', a testament to its small height and stature. The discovery, made by an Australian-Indonesian archaeological team, is thought to throw the process of human evolution apart, by dating the species as late as 12,000 years ago - the same time as our own species, Homo sapiens, was living on the planet. And a recent paper from an Australian National University PhD student suggests that Hobbits and humans may well have coexisted in the area.

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