Earth's ChildrenFrom Wikipedia, the Free

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Earth's Children is a series of historical

fiction novels written by Jean M. Auel.

She is an American writer, better known as Jean M.

Auel. She is best known for her Earth's Children books, a series of historical fiction

novels set in prehistoric Europe that explores

interactions of Cro-Magnon people with

Neanderthals. Her books have sold 34 million copies

world-wide in many

translations. There are five novels in the series so far.

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Ayla-the brave & unconventional heroine

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The settingAs the stories take place during the Würm glaciations, populations are small in number, surviving mostly in

sedentary hunter-gatherer fashion. Prior to the discovery of metal, flint is the primary medium for the

creation of tools.

Neanderthal stone tools

Cro-Magnon flint tools

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PeopleTwo primary cultures vie for resources, space and survival: the Clan, which is what Neanderthals call

themselves, and Cro-Magnon (whom Ayla, with her Clan upbringing, generally referred to as the Others). Both

races are fairly different in culture, society and technology, but with some overlap: both depend on flint

for their tools, both recognize the importance of fire; both hunt and gather.

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Neanderthal Cro-Magnon

The series is set in Europe during the Upper Palaeolithic era, and focuses on the period of co-

existence between Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals. It tells the story of Ayla, a Cro-Magnon girl who is adopted by a tribe of Neanderthals, but who later embarks on a journey where she meets up with various cultural groups of Cro-Magnon humans.

The series has a highly detailed focus on archaeology and anthropology, but also features substantial

amounts of romance and poetic license.

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As with many series of speculative fiction, there is a substantial fan base that organize websites, hold

meetings, and write fan fiction. The author's treatment of unconventional sexual

practices has earned the series a place on the American Library Association's 100 Most Frequently

Challenged Books of 1990-2000.

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The Clan of the Cave Bear was released in September

1980. It introduces Ayla, the main

character of the series, a Cro-Magnon child

orphaned in an earthquake and wounded by a cave lion who is adopted by a group of Neanderthals who call

themselves 'the Clan of the Cave Bear'.

Book 1

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T he wonderful novel by Jean Auel: "Ayla in the Clan of the Cave Bear" is about a Cro Magnon woman who has been found by a horde of Neanderthals at the

age of five orphaned and wounded. The medicine woman adopts her as her daughter but - like in the story of "the ugly duckling" - all her higher developed abilities and properties are regarded

as morbid and of lower quality because they are different. Though she already had been able to speak she now learns to communicate with grunting noises and gestures and to behave humble like a slave towards

every man of the tribe.

A brief summary of the first book-the best

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Hunting is a holy privilege of the men. Women are only allowed to collect plants and herbs.

When it gets known that Ayla has secretly learned to skilfully kill small game with a slingshot, she is "banned to death"

and expelled by the tribe. She manages to stay alive though for one month

all on her own in a small cave in the woods. No other outcast before her has ever succeeded to do so

and the clan has to accept her back after that.

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Every woman has to give herself to every man at his will and so Ayla is made pregnant by the son

of the chieftain because he hates her and wants to humble her.

Her newborn son appears to the tribe as a monster unfit to live because of his long neck and would have been killed.

But Ayla runs away with him and hides in her cave, where she manages to survive a whole winter alone with her baby.

When spring comes, both of them are received as members of the tribe

and Ayla is granted a special privilege, she becomes "the woman who hunts".

Nevertheless on the long run she can't bear living in the Clan of the Cavebear any longer.

When her son is old enough, she leaves him with one of the Clan women and

sets out all on her own into the steppe, sets out to search for people of her kind, for big fair people with long streight legs,

for people who are able to form words with their lips, to reckon with two hands and whose eyes

water like hers when they are sad ...

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The Clan of the Cave Bear

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The Valley of Horses was released in September 1982. Ayla, cast out of the Clan, goes in

search of the Others—or people like herself.

She settles in a small valley for the winter and lives alone there

for three years. During that time she is free to give into

innovative and creative impulses, including raising and training animals.

At the same time, a Zelandonii man by the name of

Jondalar begins a long Journey with his brother.

Ayla and Jondalar eventually meet and fall in love.

Book 2

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Jean Auel after her big success wrote three more books about the fate of Ayla, the "Earth Children"- Cycle.

In the second volume "Ayla in the valley of horses" the young woman lives all on her own for quite some time and tames a wild horse and a young lion for companions till in the end she meets Jondalar,

a Cro-Magnon man who has roamed the steppe all alone on a long trip and who later (in the third book) takes her back with him to his tribe to "the

mammoth hunters". With him ,who had often been selected by the old women to introduce young girls to the "delights of the big mother", she finally

experiences tenderness for the first time of her life.

Marvellous descriptions of landscapes and sensitive representation of the "Mother -Worship" and of life in the stone ages as it might have been make up

the special charm of this grat series of novels.

Ayla’s ‘Whinny’ & ‘Baby’

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The Valley of Horses

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The ‘Donau’(Danube),

Mother river

Descendents of pre-historic

Horses, wooly rhinoceros-

Like the one which gores Thonolan

Book 3The Mammoth Hunters

was released in Fall 1985. Ayla and Jondalar visit a tribe known as the Mamutoi, or Mammoth Hunters,

who live near Ayla's valley. The Mamutoi adopt Ayla, and her and Jondalar's love is threatened by Ayla's

brief affair with Ranec, a member of the camp,

which she engages in after a misunderstanding leads her to believe

that Jondalar no longer loves her.

Her history with the Clan, ability to train animals and talent for invention make

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A Mamutoi Earthlodge

Mammoth bone hut

The Plains of Passage was released in November

1990. Ayla and Jondalar travel west,

back to Zelandonii territory, encountering dangers from

both nature and humans

along the way. Her interactions often

force the people around her to take a broader

view and be more accepting of new ideas.

Book 4

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The ChamoisHunted by the Shamudoi

Sharamudoi boats

Giant sturgeon –staple of the Ramudoi

The Plains of Passage

Ayla’s ‘Wolf’

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Golden thread-prevents pregnancy

SacredRoot-

hallucinogenic

Book 5The Shelters of Stone

was released on 30 April 2002, and is the most recent novel

of the series. Ayla and Jondalar reach the

Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, Jondalar's home, and prepare

to marry and have a child. Unfortunately,

nothing is ever simple, especially for a woman with

Ayla's background.

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The Shelters of Stone

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Cro-Magnon life was not all that different from the lives of

earlier hominids. They lived in caves, or

temporary structures, and spent their lives hunting and gathering in small groups. As

food sources increased humans settlements became

more permanent. Many groups began building homes out of logs or stone. Smaller groups joined together forming larger

groups.

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Hunting scenes

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Cro-Magnon bone tools

Pre-historic cave drawing –Cro -Magnon man

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http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6293/auel.html

http://ecfans.com/

http://kaleidoscope.bitter-tears.net/earthschildren/

THESE ARE SOME OF THE WEBSITES YOU CAN VISIT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EARTH’S CHILDREN SERIES

I have read all the five books in the series and I personally recommend the Earth’s Children saga---

its got all the elements for great reading---adventure,romance,thrills,tragedy,comic situations,

plus information about things---Herbs, plants and their uses, animals, landscape,

lifestyles, pre-historic places, way of life, and many, many

other things-Its really great reading!

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