Very good points - and the dates may go back further than 1.8 million years.
A lot of people in the Anthropology business seem to believe that Homo Erectus evolved outside the African continent.
I get the impression that theory might be very dangerous for job security in the academic world, and it's rare that I see detailed commentary on that idea.
It all comes dow nto classification.
There’s been a tendency from the late 1980s onward to reclassify many separate homo species back into Homo Erectus.
Homo Egaster was considered the oldest, and from Africa, but now it appears to be part of the Homo Erectus species along with Java Man, except for Homo Heidelbergis, which was given its own distinct species.
The new list of Homo Erectus:
Homo erectus bilzingslebenensis (0.37 Ma)
Homo erectus erectus (Java Man, 1.6–0.5 Ma)
Homo erectus ergaster (1.9–1.4 Ma)
Homo erectus georgicus (1.8–1.6 Ma)
Homo erectus heidelbergensis (0.7–0.3 Ma), now mostly treated as a derived species, H. heidelbergensis.
Homo erectus lantianensis (Lantian Man, 1.6 Ma)
Homo erectus nankinensis (Nanjing Man, 0.6 Ma)
Homo erectus palaeojavanicus (Meganthropus, 1.4–0.9 Ma)
Homo erectus pekinensis (Peking Man, 0.7 Ma)
Homo erectus soloensis (Solo Man, 0.25–0.075 Ma)
Homo erectus tautavelensis (Tautavel Man, 0.45 Ma)
Homo erectus yuanmouensis (Yuanmou Man)
I think the Homo Erectus situation you mention may very well be. Yes, if you stray from the official narrative they will destroy you. I am now absolutely sure there is something being hidden with mass intent.