| The third book of the best-selling Earth's Children | | | | The healing arts Ayla learned among the Clan are |
| series by Jean M. Auel picks up immediately after the | | | | highly effective, which brings her respect among the |
| end of the second novel The Valley of the Horses. | | | | mammoth hunters. However, her association with the |
| The heroine of the series, Ayla, and her new lover | | | | Clan is also controversial because most humans |
| Jondalar have just encountered a band of people | | | | consider the Clan to be animals and call them by the |
| whose identity is based on mammoth hunting. The | | | | derogatory term flatheads. The prejudice against the |
| meeting is shocking for Ayla because until this point in | | | | Clan is a source of conflict between Ayla and many |
| her seventeen years of life, she has never seen | | | | characters in the novel. |
| another living human except for Jondalar. From the | | | | Auel presents the mammoth hunter society as having |
| age of five, Ayla had been raised by a cousin species | | | | looser gender roles, which she illustrates to be a |
| of humans, known in the novel as Clan that are | | | | strength. Because women and men can cross over |
| presumably Neanderthal people. | | | | gender lines to cook, hunt, gather, butcher, and so forth, |
| Ayla's upbringing leaves her without any cultural | | | | they are more productive because everyone can pitch |
| knowledge of how to live among her own kind. Her | | | | in on certain tasks when needed. The cooperative |
| first experiences among the humans are bewildering | | | | mindset of the prehistoric people is also an important |
| and frightening. The group of mammoth hunters who | | | | theme of the novel. Although people certainly have |
| take in Ayla and Jondalar designate their home as the | | | | their own interests and talents, they exist within a |
| Lion Camp, and Ayla takes this as a good sign | | | | society that tacitly expects everyone to work |
| because her totem animal is the cave lion that acts as | | | | together for survival. |
| her spiritual guide in life. | | | | Because readers of The Mammoth Hunters will be |
| The people of the Lion Camp are also captivated by | | | | coming from the perspective of an individualistic and |
| Ayla because she is beautiful, skilled as a healer, and | | | | patriarchal culture, they will find this novel especially |
| rides a horse. The author does an excellent job in the | | | | enthralling as it presents a society that respects and |
| novel of imagining the beginnings of animal | | | | values women, bases hereditary on matrilineal descent, |
| domestication and how people might react to seeing | | | | and depends on cooperative efforts. However, the |
| for the first time a horse that obeys a human. Auel's | | | | prehistoric people in the novel are not selfless |
| approach to the process of animal domestication is | | | | communists. They seek to improve their status and |
| plausible, and the way her narrative demonstrates the | | | | collect more valuable goods. They trade in |
| benefits that the animals brought to humans is | | | | possessions and skills and frequently gamble. |
| compelling. Ayla's horse allows her to scout prey for | | | | Amid the finely detailed portrayal of prehistoric human |
| the hunters more quickly and the horse helps to carry | | | | society, the gripping emotional drama of Ayla |
| more meat back to the camp. | | | | commands the narrative as always. A wrenching love |
| In this third novel, Auel gets to delve into an illuminating | | | | triangle emerges among Ayla and Jondalar and her |
| exploration of how early people might have lived upon | | | | new suitor Ranec. As this romantic storm brews, most |
| the ice age steppes of Europe and Central Asia. | | | | readers will likely wish for Ayla to stick by Jondalar, but |
| Through Ayla's eyes that know only the culture of the | | | | because Ayla is such a endearing and powerful |
| Clan with its strict gender roles and unquestioning | | | | character, you, like me, will probably decide that you will |
| obedience to a group leader, the culture of her own | | | | follow Ayla wherever she travels. Being mad at her is |
| people presents an astounding contrast. All that she | | | | impossible. She is a strikingly vivid character, both larger |
| was prohibited from doing among the Clan, Ayla is | | | | than life and totally familiar. Ayla represents a literary |
| free to do among the mammoth hunters. She can | | | | triumph for Auel, who I believe has delivered yet |
| hunt; speak her mind, laugh, and cry. She is also | | | | another brilliant novel. I praise Auel's writing so highly |
| introduced to art, music and communicating with | | | | because her characters became real for me. I think |
| written symbols. These abstract concepts were | | | | about them when I am not reading the books. I worry |
| unknown to the Clan. Throughout the narrative, the | | | | about them. I wish I could talk to them. In The |
| ability of humans to experiment with new ideas and | | | | Mammoth Hunters, Auel has created that most blissful |
| innovate were presented in contrast to the Clan ways | | | | of reading experiences: one that is emotionally tangible. |
| that are based on memory. Among the Clan, things | | | | For readers who like adventure, drama, romance, |
| are done as they were always done. They are not | | | | powerful spirituality, and contemplating the mysterious |
| questioned and as a result they are not improved. This | | | | origins of humanity, The Mammoth Hunters is highly |
| is not to say that the Clan lacked extraordinary skills. | | | | recommended. I rate it five tusks of mammoth ivory. |