About 2 million years ago, some of these archaic men and women left their homeland to journey throug
h and settle vast areas of North Africa, Europe and Asia. Since survival in the snowy forests of nor
thern Europe required different traits than those needed to stay alive in Indonesia's steaming jungl
es, human populations evolved in different directions. The result was several distinct species, to e
ach of which scientists have assigned a pompous Latin name. Humans in Europe and western Asia evolve
d into Homo neanderthalensis ('Man from the Neander Valley), popularly referred to simply as 'Neande
rthals'. Neanderthals, bulkier and more muscular than us Sapiens, were well adapted to the cold clim
ate of Ice Age western Eurasia. The more eastern regions of Asia were populated by Homo erectus, 'Up
right Man', who survived there for close to 2 million years, making it the most durable human specie
s ever. This record is unlikely to be broken even by our own species. It is doubtful whether Homo sa
piens will still be around a thousand years from now, so 2 million years is really out of our league
. On the island of Java, in Indonesia, lived Homo soloensis, 'Man from the Solo Valley', who was sui
ted to life in the tropics. On another Indonesian island - the small island of Flores - archaic huma
ns underwent a process of dwarfing. Humans first reached Flores when the sea level was exceptionally
low, and the island was easily accessible from the mainland. When the seas rose again, some people
were trapped on the island, which was poor in resources. Big people, who need a lot of food, died fi
rst. Smaller fellows survived much better. Over the generations, the people of Flores became dwarves
. This unique species, known by scientists as Homo floresiensis, reached a maximum height of only on
e metre and weighed no more than twenty-five kilograms.