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= Earth's_Children =
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Introduction
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'Earth's Children' is a series of epic historical fiction (or more
precisely, prehistorical fiction) novels written by Jean M. Auel set
circa 30,000 years before the present day. There are six novels in the
series. Although Auel had previously mentioned in interviews that
there would be a seventh novel, publicity announcements for the sixth
confirmed it would be the final book in the sequence.
The series is set in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic era, after
the date of the first ceramics discovered, but before the last advance
of glaciers. The books focus on the period of co-existence between
Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals.
As a whole, the series is a tale of personal discovery: coming-of-age,
invention, cultural complexities, and, beginning with the second book,
explicit romantic sex. It tells the story of Ayla, an orphaned
Cro-Magnon girl who is adopted and raised by a tribe of Neanderthals.
In early adulthood, she is given a "death curse," by the new leader
who hates her. She is forced to leave behind her toddler son, a
Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon mix, in search of people like her and not
the Clan, who are the only people she remembers in her young life. She
spends years living alone in a cave as she searches for the Cro-Magnon
people she is told live north of the peninsula on which she was
raised. (called the Others by the Neanderthals), meeting along the way
her romantic interest and supporting co-protagonist, Jondalar.
The story arc in part comprises a travel tale, in which the two lovers
journey from the region of what will be Ukraine to Jondalar's home in
what is now France, along an indirect route up the Danube River
valley. In the third and fourth works, they meet various groups of
Cro-Magnons and encounter their culture and technology. The couple
finally return to Jondalar's people in the fifth novel. The series
includes a highly detailed focus on botany, herbology and herbal
medicine, archaeology, and anthropology, but it also features
substantial amounts of romance, coming-of-age crises, and--employing
significant literary license--the attribution of certain advances and
inventions to the protagonists.
In addition, Auel's series incorporates a number of recent
archeological and anthropological theories. It also suggested the
notion of Sapiens-Neanderthal interbreeding.
The author's treatment of unconventional sexual practices (which are
central to her hypothesized nature-centered religions) and frequent
explicit depictions of sex has earned the series a top twenty place on
the American Library Association's list of the '100 Most Frequently
Challenged Books of 1990-1999'.
''The Clan of the Cave Bear''
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The first book, 'The Clan of the Cave Bear,' was released in September
1980 and is a story of personal development set in pre-historic
southern Europe during the current ice age but before the last glacial
maximum. It introduces the reader to a wide variety of diverse topics,
including herbal medicine and anthropological-archeological reasoning.
The book introduces Ayla, a young girl belonging to the titular clan
who looks nothing like her peers, especially with her long, golden
hair.
''The Valley of Horses''
==========================
'The Valley of Horses' was released in September 1982. Ayla, cast out
of the Clan, has been forced to follow the advice given her in the
first book by her dying foster-mother Iza. She goes in search of the
Others--that is, people like herself: European Cro-Magnon 'Homo
sapiens', or early-modern humans, returned west and north to Europe
after an incubation period of tens of millennia in the Near and Far
East.
''The Mammoth Hunters''
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The third book in the series, 'The Mammoth Hunters', was released in
fall 1985. It details Ayla's personal growth as she learns to cope
with a society of widely disparate individuals and their unpredictable
behaviors, mysterious motivations, and habits.
''The Plains of Passage''
===========================
'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.
''The Shelters of Stone''
===========================
'The Shelters of Stone' was released on 30 April 2002. 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.
''The Land of Painted Caves''
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'The Land of Painted Caves', the sixth and final installment in the
series, was published on March 29, 2011. Author Jean M. Auel is quoted
in September 2010 saying that in this book, Ayla is about 25 years old
and training to become a spiritual leader of the Zelandonii which
includes a series of harrowing journeys.
Premise
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Since the stories take place during the Würm glaciation, populations
are small in number and are surviving mostly in hunter-gatherer
fashion. Prior to the discovery of metals, the primary materials used
for tools are leather, wood, bone, horn, and flint.
People
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In Auel's series, two cultures vie for resources, space, and survival:
the 'Clan', which is what Neanderthals call themselves, and the
Cro-Magnons (whom Ayla, with her Clan upbringing, generally refers to
as "The Others"). The 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 and use it; both hunt and
gather.
Physiologically, the Clan are heavier and broader but also shorter
than the people of The Others. They are very slow to embrace change
and to innovate, and they still chase after animals to spear them
directly, whereas the Cro-Magnons are enthusiastic about innovation
and have moved on to projectile spears. The Clan's tools, clothing,
and household implements are similarly less refined and sometimes less
effective than those of their Cro-Magnon counterparts, whose
implements and other goods are more technologically sophisticated.
The Clan's reluctance to change is depicted by Auel as a function of
their cognition; they are presented as dependent upon their
racial-genetic memory. The average Clan child needs only be'
'reminded' 'of a thing to know it permanently, though skilled tasks
still require repetitive practice. Furthermore, the need to encode
'everything' into a child's brain has increased the average
Neanderthal head size to the point that, by the time of the first
novel, women of the Clan are having trouble giving birth to their
large-headed babies--a sign that their evolutionary strategy has run
its course.
The "Flatheads", as "The Others" pejoratively call the Neanderthals
(owing to their distinctive back-sloping foreheads), also have a far
more limited vocal repertoire than The Others, and largely communicate
instead via a gestural sign language, although spoken words are
sometimes used to add emphasis to the gestures. Auel describes this
language as being quite nuanced, especially as bodily posture, facial
expression and other physical actions -- in short, body language --
can expedite and expand upon the basic vocabulary of the hand signals.
A Cro-Magnon observing Ayla demonstrating a translation characterizes
the language as dancelike and elegant.
For this reason, Clan members are highly adept at reading body
language and cannot be deceived by lying; while one can spell an
untruth with one's hands, one's posture will give it away.
Consequently, the idea of telling an untruth is alien to Clan culture,
a fact that Ayla needs time to conceptualize and understand. However,
a Clan member can "refrain from mentioning" something she would prefer
other people did not know, even though residual clues would probably
reveal that something was being concealed. Cultural conventions, Auel
suggests, would cause other Clan members to ignore the concealment out
of sheer courtesy, though, again, Ayla has trouble grasping this
concept.
Finally, the wider Clan possesses not only a colloquial, everyday
"localized" language, but also a more formal "ancient" or "spirit
language," used to converse with ancestors and understood by every
Clan member, anywhere. This language facilitates easy communication at
inter-regional meetings of normally separated groups and does not
require the multilingualism that the Others must acquire. This "spirit
language" has no spoken words apart from personal names, and its users
generally refer to themselves in the third person.
In Auel's context, our human ancestors, the Cro-Magnon "Others,"
generally look upon the "Flatheads" as animals, hardly better than
bears (the lack of vocal language is a primary factor in this
verdict). The Clan, for their part, seem to have no strong opinions
about the Others other than considering their spoken language as
babbling and a sign of their lack of intellect. Otherwise, they have
concluded it is best simply to avoid the Cro-Magnon men.
Accurate to current DNA evidence, Auel depicts Cro-Magnons and
Neanderthals as able to interbreed. The mixed-race children are
generally not favorably regarded by either group. As in many
historical cultures, malformed Clan children are routinely subjected
to exposure, while the Others may allow such children to live but
prejudicially label them as 'abominations'. Such children and their
experiences enter the plotline in several books of the series.
"Children of mixed spirits", as the Cro-Magnons call them, are
mis-matched combinations of both Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal phenotypes
physiologically as they are genetic hybrids, with some traits (like
facial features) appearing blurred or distorted when compared
side-by-side. Of the five mixed-race people depicted in the series,
only one has had the restricted vocal range of the Clan (Rydag, from
'The Mammoth Hunters'), and all but one has been seen using Clan sign
language, the sole exception being the difficult and disconsolate
self-loathing Brukeval (who is in clear psychological denial about his
ancestry), in 'The Shelters of Stone'. The vocal range of one of the
mixed-race persons is as of yet unknown because she was only a baby
when we meet her in 'The Clan of the Cave Bear'.
Organization
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"The Clan" is an overarching term; every Neanderthal is a member of
the Clan. Organizationally, they live in smaller tribes, also called
"clans" but named after the man who leads them; for instance, Ayla is
adopted into Brun's clan. Later, when Brun steps down and, as is
traditional, passes leadership of the clan on to the son of his mate,
it becomes known as Broud's clan. Every seven years, Clans from the
immediate area meet in a Clan Gathering; the only one Auel has
depicted consisted of approximately 250 people. The Clan is mostly
patriarchal: women cannot hunt, make hunting tools, lead a Clan or
become a 'Mog-ur' (a spiritual leader or shaman). But men cannot
become medicine women, a job that is almost as prestigious as clan
leader. Unlike other women, whose status depends on the status of
their mates, a medicine woman has status in her own right and can, if
her line is illustrious enough, even outrank the leader's mate.
"The Earth Children" is an overarching term; their primary allegiances
are to their people and their caves. Each culture has a name for
itself ('Zelandonii', for instance, means "Children of the Great Earth
Mother who live in the Southwest") and may subdivide into smaller
Caves or Camps (the Twenty-Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii, the Lion Camp
of the Mamutoi). Curiously, however, most Other culture names includes
their word for 'Great Earth Mother': 'Doni' in Zelandonii, 'Mut' in
Mamutoi ("Children of the Great Earth Mother who hunt Mammoths"),
'Gaea' in Sungaea (translation unknown), etc. Their culture is far
more egalitarian, with different twists and customs at every hand;
Mamutoi Camps, for instance, are co-ruled by headmen and headwomen who
are biological, or adoptive, siblings, and the Sharamudoi, a people
that lives half-on and -off the Great Mother River, form complex
co-mate systems between river couples (Ramudoi) and land couples
(Shamudoi). Each entire people generally gathers for Summer Meetings
every year, during which a number of important ceremonies, such as the
Matrimonial, take place.
Religion
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The Clan worships animal spirits, most notably Ursus the Cave Bear,
for, as is related in one of the best known Clan legends, it was the
Spirit of the Great Cave Bear that taught the Clan to wear fur, live
in caves, and store up reserves during the seasons of abundance in
order to survive the winter. The honoring of Ursus is what binds the
Clan together as a people, and it is for this reason that the Bear
Ceremony, and Feast of Ursus which follows it, held at the Clan
Gathering are the highest religious rituals of the Clan. As described
in Chapter 22 of Clan of the Cave Bear when Brun's clan chanced to see
a living cave bear on their way to the Clan Gathering, "But it was
more than the tremendous size of the animal that held the clan
spellbound. This was Ursus, the personification of the Clan itself. He
was their kin, and more, he embodied their very essence. His bones
alone were so sacred they could ward off any evil. The kinship they
felt was a spiritual tie, far more meaningful than any physical one.
It was through his spirit that all clans were united into one and
meaning was given to the Gathering they had traveled so far to attend.
It was his essence that made them Clan, the Clan of the Cave Bear."
The Clan's animal spirits are always male. However, in the early days
of the Clan, weather spirits such as Wind and Rain--spirits whose
worship is so ancient that Creb had to use deep meditation to find
them in the Clan memories--bore female names. Goov, Creb's apprentice,
also speculates that Ayla's totem may be the Cave Lioness, rather than
the Cave Lion, although this would be unprecedented in the Clan.
In the ancient days when the weather spirits were honored, roles
within the Clan had not yet become so markedly differentiated by
sex--for example, women still hunted alongside the men when they
didn't have little children who needed their care. At this time, women
were also the ones in charge of the spiritual life of the Clan.
Because they once controlled access to the spirit world, and because
the ceremonies involved begging the Clan spirits in what could be
considered an unmanly fashion, Clan tradition holds that should a
woman see one of the men's religious ceremonies, the clan in which
this occurred would suffer disaster. When a ceremony invoking the
weather spirits is held to sanction Ayla's hunting, especially strong
protection was required for the men, both to guard against the
presence of a female at the ceremony and because the ancient spirits
were feared as much as they were honored in the days when they were
worshiped. Ayla's subsequent accidental observation of one of the
highest ceremonies at the Clan Gathering is interpreted by Creb to
foretell doom for the entire Clan of the Cave Bear, as those
ceremonies have meaning for all the clans of the Clan, even those not
present at the Gathering.
All Clan members are assigned a totem at birth, and boys are marked
with that totem's ritual tattoo as part of the ceremony that marks
their passage from child to man following their first major hunting
kill. People are also believed to possess personality traits similar
to those of their totem spirit; Broud, quick-tempered, stubborn and
unpredictable like a woolly rhinoceros (his totem spirit) is a prime
example. Totems are also responsible for pregnancy; a woman's moon
time is believed to be her totem fighting off the presences of
marauding male totems; for this reason, women's totems are almost
invariably weaker than those of men and women may not associate with
men during menstruation. Should the male totem prove stronger, the
woman will become pregnant. If the totem is not strong enough by
itself, it may ask for the help of one or more other totems, in which
case it may be one of the other totems that leaves behind an
impregnating essence. It is considered especially lucky for a boy to
have the same totem as the mate of his mother. Totems are assigned by
'Mog-ur's, men whose talent is understanding the world of spirits.
Each individual Clan has its own 'Mog-ur', but one - the one in the
clan which Ayla joins - is traditionally recognized as being first
among them.
The Clan also believe that, if someone survives a cave bear attack, it
means that person is now under the protection of Ursus and may claim
the Cave Bear as their totem, in addition to the totem they were
assigned in early childhood. Unlike other Clan totems, there is no
specific mark for the Cave Bear and the Cave Bear is believed not to
play a role in the conception, although it may be called on to help
subdue a woman's unusually strong totem. In "Clan of the Cave Bear",
two people, Creb and a man injured by a cave bear at a Clan Gathering,
are described as being "chosen" in this way.
The Others worship the Great Earth Mother, and to some extent the
Moon, her Fair Celestial Mate. The Great Earth Mother goes by many
names, depending on the language, but is worshipped unconditionally as
the source of all bounty, and carved depictions of her proliferate.
Faith and guidance are administered by spiritual leaders of both
sexes, with different names depending on the language. Among most of
the peoples described, Those Who Serve abandon their personal names in
favor of the name of their people and god. (The Mamutoi are the only
depicted exception so far: only the Mamut of the Lion Camp, who is
first amongst his priesthood due to his age and spiritual power, no
longer uses any name but Mamut--mostly because no one remembers his
original name!) To avoid confusion, among the Zelandonii they
generally take appendices after their cave (e.g. Zelandoni of the
Ninth Cave, First Acolyte to the Zelandonii of the Second Cave, etc.),
leading Ayla to muse that they have traded their names for counting
words, i.e. numbers. As with the Clan, one among Those Who Serve is
generally acknowledged (or elected) First.
Sex and reproduction
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Whether accurately or not, Auel has incorporated sex into her
prehistoric culture in a number of unique ways. While neither Clan nor
Other society requires monogamy, a major difference is that in the
former, sex can be treated as a purely physical need, whereas in the
latter, it is always imbued with something of the sacred. For the
Others, nothing is more abhorrent than the idea of sex without
consent, and sexual rituals form a significant part of their culture.
Among the Clan, there exists a hand sign that only men can make and
only women can receive, instructing the female in question to present
for sexual intercourse. Any man of the Clan (a male who has made his
first hunting kill) may give this instruction to any woman of the Clan
(a female who has passed menarche), should he feel the need to
"relieve his needs," regardless of marital status. (The female's state
of arousal is never addressed directly, but since Clan women are able
to flirt with men using seductive and inviting body language,
enjoyment of the act is not unknown.) Because the Clan believes babies
are created by the Totems and have no concept of any connection
between copulation and conception, lines of descent are matrilineal,
but any children a man's mate bears are considered his heirs
(especially in regards to the son of the leader's mate becoming the
future leader), and he is expected to provide for her family and train
her sons to hunt. Who is mated to whom is decided solely by the men,
though wise leaders do of course take the prospective bride's feelings
into account; the few Clans depicted average less than fifty members,
and even one discordant pairing can cause trouble.
Sexual maturity is the subject of semi-religious customs among the
Others, both of which take place at Summer Meetings. Every year, women
volunteer to become sexual tutors to boys who have reached maturity;
the name of their office changes from culture to culture, but they are
generally furnished with some distinguishing marking, often the
Mother's sacred color red (red dye on the soles of the feet for the
Mamutoi; a red fringe among the Zelandonii). These women are often
pregnant by the end of the summer, which is believed to be the Great
Earth Mother smiling upon their piety. Young women who have reached
menarche, on the other hand, are the subject of a far more formal
ceremony called First Rites, in which she is ritually deflowered by a
man (often specially chosen by her friends and family). Both these
relationships are meant to be solely physical, and social contact
between the involved parties is frowned upon for at least a year
afterwards. Finally, during "Mother Festivals" which take place at
various times of the year, men and women are free to copulate with
whomever they choose. Once again, these polygamous practices blur the
lines of heredity, and descent is generally traced only through one's
mother. However, certain familial resemblances have been noticed (for
instance, Jondalar looks almost identical to Dalanar, his mother's
spouse at the time of Jondalar's conception), which has led to the
belief that the Great Earth Mother chooses the "spirit" or "essence"
of a nearby man to impregnate the woman with. Ayla's more accurate
belief that children are the result of sexual activity is treated with
skepticism among the Others: their women are seldom celibate, which
makes the connection between sex and pregnancy harder to isolate.
Homosexual relationships are portrayed as acceptable, if rare. The
Zelandonii religious order features at least one homosexual male with
a male partner. A Mamutoi clan leader is openly bisexual. Many shamans
are also portrayed as what would now be called third gender or
non-binary, along with mention of a Mamutoi who in our modern terms is
a trans woman.
Reception
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The 'Earth's Children' series has received the following accolades:
* The Clan of the Cave Bear - National Book Award Finalist for First
Novel (1981)
* The Shelters of Stone - Publieksprijs voor het Nederlandse Boek
Nominee (2002)
Despite the above, the 'Earth's Children' series was the nineteenth
most banned and challenged book in the United States between 1990 and
1999.
License
=========
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_Children
