This presents a challenge for researchers in terms of how we explain the pattern of variation seen in H. erectus, but also presents an opportunity to study how evolutionary forces operate across such scales.
Humans are widespread and variable today, but much of the variation observed across contemporary populations is the result of relatively recent events in the past 100,000 years of our evolutionary history. Patterns of variation in H. erectus occurred on a time scale as long as a million years, and may have been different from those we observe today. This presents a challenge for researchers in terms of how we explain the pattern of variation seen in H. erectus, but also presents an opportunity to study how evolutionary forces operate across such scales.