The Shelters of Stone

From Wikipedia:

The Shelters of Stone is a historical fiction novel by Jean M. Auel published in April 2002. It is the sequel to The Plains of Passage – published 12 years earlier – and fifth in the Earth's Children series. It describes the return of Jondalar to his homeland along with Ayla

In the fourth book, Ayla and Jondalar traveled for a year to reach the place where Jondalar had grown up and where his people lived.  This book tells about Ayla's pregnancy and the birth of the daughter of the couple.  It also tells about her slowly becoming accepted by Jondalar's people and about the rights of matrimony that make the two a official couple.  It ends with Ayla's agreement to become a part of:

" Not long after the birth, Ayla finally decides to become Zelandonii's acolyte, if only so that the members of the Zelandonii will accept her as a healer."







This book is set in what is now the Vézère valley, near to Les Eyzies, in the Dordogne, southwest France. It was relatively densely populated in prehistoric times, with many open cliff-top dwellings that can still be seen, some of which have been turned into tourist attractions. The national museum of prehistory is located in this valley. Ayla also discovers the world-famous cave of Lascaux, which her adopted people subsequently paint.



This is where I believe that my own clan mother lived in this time period:



I think that the above map was taken from Brian Sykes book:  The Seven Daughters of Eve.  However, I have given my copy away and can not double check this. Wikipedia has an interesting article about this book at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Daughters_of_Eve

My Haplogroup is H which means that in Brian's book, I would descend from Helena.  Compare the two maps to see why I believe that I descend from the people that Jean Auel calls the Zelendonia.



It is my understanding that the Grottes Lascaux is the cave that Ayla discovers in this book.

I just found a site for wonderful maps that someone has already drawn for us:

http://www.donsmaps.com/vezere.html

If you are really a fan, do not miss this site!

The Plains of Passage

Jean Auel got back on track with book #4.   The entire book covers the traveling done by Ayla, Jondala, the two horses, and Wolf.

I was looking for a review that would say some of the things that I think to little avail.  However, on Wikipedia, I found the following that makes me very excited to continue the series!

The Plains of Passage describes the journey of Ayla and Jondalar west along the Great Mother River (the Danube), from the home of The Mammoth Hunters (roughly modern Ukraine) to Jondalar's homeland (close to Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France). During this journey, Ayla meets the various peoples who live along their line of march. These meetings, the attitudes and beliefs of these groups, and Ayla's response form an essential part of the story.

Never did I expect Jondalar's people to be my ancestors!  I am very excited to find that the couple and their horses and Wolf would end up in the very area of Europe where my Grandmother's people were MANY centuries ago!  I guess I may as well use my new credit on Audible to purchase the next book in the series!

At the end of the book, the information is confirmed that the Great Mother River that the couple followed is indeed the Danube.  Below is a map of the Danube:



And then below a map that shows the area of France in which we find  Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France:


http://leseyzies-tourist.info/category/dordogne-caves-and-shelters



I found my photo book about the trip that Jack and I made with Steve and Doris in 1994.  We absolutely stayed in the small village of Les Eyries.  I will add information about that when I have time.

I wrote a blog post about my mtDNA that is found at the bottom of a post on my Hornberger line.  According to the book written by Brian Sykes the nickname that he gave to the Daughter of Eve who heads up the H Haplogroup (which is my group) is Helena.  If you go to the below link and scroll to the bottom you can see where Helena's group was found in the ice ages:

http://marshamoses.blogspot.com/2013/05/trip-to-blue-ash-ohio-in-april-2013.html

Ans here is a link to a post made by Rick Steves about the are around Les Eyries

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/publications/magazine/0705/rick_steves_dordogne_france.shtml

The Mammoth Hunters

This was my least favorite book of the series.  However, I did finish it.  It was interesting in that Ayla was adopted into the Lion Camp.  And the part in which Ayla interacts with the Old Mamut.  However the sex scenes and the misunderstandings between Ayla and Jondalar made one want to fast forward.  Perhaps a good editor could have cut them down to a more manageable amount.  Here are a couple of other people's thoughts about the book that I copied and pasted from other reviews:


" On the way, three days away from the valley, they met up with other people called the Mamutoi of the Great Lion Camp who accepted friendly visitors with open arms but they were apprehensive about the two horses, Winney and Racer."

"I did enjoy the characters of the Lion Camp. They were a group of people who received and adopted people who were different. In their camp they accepted a dark skin man, a mix-breed baby, a family that no other Camps would take in, and a spiritual leader who lived among the Clan people for a while recovering from a broken arm...."

 I read this book via audible.....perhaps this is one instance in which audible should have offered an abridged version.