Even if this were a small ancestral group instead of one woman, wouldn't that rule out fossil forms that existed much earlier than 200,000 years ago as our direct ancestors? If there is a substantial gap between our own species and the nearest fossil ancestor, would that not pose a problem to Darwinian gradualism? In other words, if H. erectus became extinct 250,000 years ago, from whom did we come from?
I don't think any modern paleoanthropologist has said that modern humans (
Homo sapiens sapiens) evolved directly from
Homo erectus.
A number of fossils have been found of Archaic Humans, that existed in a time frame that overlaps the existence of
H. erectus and the origin of of modern humans. Look up data on fossils such as
Homo rhodesiensis
It is quite possible, and most phylogenies model it as, that
H. ergaster (early African erectus form) is an ancestor to the archaic
H. sapiens, who are, in turn, ancestors to modern humans (
H. sapiens sapiens).
Loving is a journey with water and with stars,
with smothered air and abrupt storms of flour:
loving is a clash of lightning-bolts
and two bodies defeated by a single drop of honey.
- Pablo Neruda