8 Books Set at the Dawn of Time

The Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean M. Auel
Timeframe: ~28,000 years ago.
This is, of course, the grandmama of prehistorical fiction. Not only did it sell in amazing quantities and kick off the six-book Earth’s Children series, it sparked a major motion picture (with talk of a TV series on the way). Auel’s novel chronicles the conflict between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, a term used to describe the earliest modern humans, who lived in Europe prior to the most recent glaciers. Auel’s book was applauded for its use of modern research in developing the world of its characters, but also for the compelling (and juicy) drama in the chronicling of the life of Ayla, a Cro-Magnon girl taken to live with Neanderthals when she becomes separated from her tribe. Over time, Ayla’s differences put her at odds with her adopted family and lead to a self-discovery that occurs over the rest of the series. Subsequent research has poked holes in Auel’s imagined past, but it was accurate at the time, and remains captivating today.

Wolf Brother, by Michelle Paver and Geoff Taylor
Timeframe: 6,000 years ago.
Though British author Michelle Paver’s popular six-book children’s series deals in magic and fantasy, she did extensive research in order to ensure Wolf Brother is otherwise as accurate as possible. She spent time in Finland using neolithic tools and clothing and sleeping in era-appropriate accommodations. She even studied wolves at a reserve in order to more accurately characterize their behavior. The series tells of Torak, a young man from the Wolf Clan, as he discovers his world; Renn, a girl from a neighboring clan; and his wolf friend. Together, they’re forced into conflict with the evil clan of mages called Soul Eaters. Despite the fantasy elements, Paver’s books get high marks for historical accuracy.

Hadon of Ancient Opar, by Philip José Farmer
Timeframe: 12,000 years ago.
The other books on this list generally aspire to a vague sort of verisimilitude, but as we’re in the era prior to recorded history, any author is, by necessity, trafficking in fantasy. This one just goes quite a bit further, eschewing the romance of Jean Auel in favor of action (nevertheless, the covers of various printings of Hadon have been positively lousy with shirtless guys ). Master of pastiche Philip José Farmer takes a bit of background from Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan books and the decayed ancient city of Opar, winding back the clock to tell of a lost African civilization at its height during the last ice age. A young warrior (the titular Hadon) fights to win the right to court the ruling high priestess and navigate the complicated sexual politics of the city of Opar. The geeky title might be intimidating, but Farmer’s complex world-building makes his version of ancient Africa seem almost plausible.

Beyond the Sea of Ice, by William Sarabande
Timeframe: ~19,000 years ago.
Though lesser known than Jean M. Auel, William Sarabande (aka Joan Lesley Hamilton Cline) became a leading light in the highly specific prehistoric adventure genre with her First Americans series, detailing the natural disasters that plague prehistoric Siberia that force the widowed clan leader Torka to lead his people over the Bering land bridge to what would become the Americas. Sarabande’s books are loaded with historical detail borne of painstaking research into the daily lives of nomadic humans. Since there are a couple of major theories about the timeframe when people crossed the Bering land bridge, this one could take place as early as 40,000 before the modern era, if you’re keeping track.

Great Sky Woman, by Steven Barnes
Timeframe: 30,000 years ago.
Sci-fi author Barnes ventures into new genre territory with a novel that mixes the historical with the spiritual. In Africa, in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, young girl T’Cori and her friend Frog Hopping come of age over several years, growing up in the face of environmental disaster and the encroachment of a superior tribe. Barnes strength, aside from characterization, is in making the physical environment come to life whilecreating a very believable spiritual and mystical world around his heroes.

Shaman, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Timeframe: 32,000 years ago.
Another writer best known for his science fiction, Kim Stanley Robinson set this novel among the early modern humans of Europe (in what is today southern France, to be specific, with references to cave art that Werner Herzog fans might be well familiar with). It’s the story of Loon, a young man who survives an early test of manhood, as well as a violent encounter with the “Old Ones” (humans that we would call Neanderthals), both events setting him on a path to becoming the shaman-in-training for his tribe, even as he skirts the rules and conventions by taking on a family in defiance of his master, Thorn. The book doesn’t suffer for having an author whose work is typically about looking ahead; Loon is himself deeply focused on the future, even if the future looks very different from the perspective of ice age-era France.

The Inheritors, by William Golding
Timeframe: 40,000 years ago.
By this point, we’re in the waning days of Neanderthals, as they come into conflict with the species that would eventually push them out: Homo sapiens. Given that Neanderthal DNA survives within many modern people, it’s not entirely fair to categorize the conflict as us versus them, but many novels set during this era look upon our predecessors as primitive savages, nightmare creatures that exist as a twisted mirror of mankind. Unsurprisingly, Golding takes a different tack. In his follow-up to Lord of the Flies, the author paints a world in which Neanderthals are largely gentle and spiritual creatures, focused on the present and ill-equipped to cope with the onslaught of violent and sophisticated modern humans. In Golding’s appropriately cynical view, it’s not at all clear that the best species won.

Daughter of Kura, by Debra Austin
Timeframe: 500,000 years ago.
Our final book takes a massive leap back in time to the Old Stone Age, around half a million years ago, and tells of the village of Kura in southeastern Africa. Snap is a girl on the verge of womanhood, from a powerful family in a matriarchal society. Her mother’s chosen mate, Bapoto, begins to win some of the tribe over to ideas of religion and patriarchy against the wishes of Chirp, the tribal leader, as well as the wishes Snap herself. Much like in Auel’s series, Snap finds herself outcast from her tribe, but with very different consequences.
What’s your favorite work of pre-historical fiction?