'Clan of Cave Bear' author to speak tonight at Alumni Hall

Since the debut of her best-selling novel "Clan of the Cave Bear" in 1980, author Jean Auel has won the hearts of readers and archeologists alike with her intensely researched prehistoric fiction series, "Earth's Children." Now on a book tour for her long awaited novel "Shelters of Stone" that was 12 years in the making, Auel will making a special stop at IU's Alumni Hall tonight at 6 p.m. to give a presentation for the craftsmanship lecture series which is featured by the Center for Research into the Anthropological Foundations of Technology (CRAFT) annually. \n"It does take some time to gather the research and develop it into the story line, and it took some time to finally finish an origin myth poem that I had been working on for twenty years," Auel said in a press release in response to the 12 years it took for her to complete "Shelters of Stone." \n"It also took time to work out the background details: the climate and the way the landscape looked then, the site and localities before some of them collapsed and were irrevocably changed, and the way the ones still existing related to such things as rivers and each other. \n"But I also have a family…Some times life gets in the way of writing." \nHer continuous and in-depth research that has continued throughout the writing of all of the novels in the series as well as her communication with archeologists is what endears her to the archeological community, including friends Kathy Schick and Nick Toth, the husband and wife archeology team who head the CRAFT research center here at IU.\n"She's not an archeologist but she talks a lot with other archeologists, she has an amazing library, she has taken classes on foraging and how to make stone tools and she travels to the places in her books," Schick said of Auel, whom she has known for 15 years since she and her husband, Toth, met her at a conference on human evolution at the American Museum in New York. \n"She wants to make her books as thoroughly steeped in archeological evidence as possible. Then she has to take an imaginative leap and fill in all the gaps of what we don't know." \nThe "Earth's Children" series takes place when Cro-Magnons, the first people we would recognize as modern humans, appeared in Europe during the Ice Age and encountered an older race of man called Neanderthals. The epic follows the story of a young Cro-Magnon woman named Ayla who was rescued by Neanderthals after being injured as a child who then returns to her own people and learns to live among them again. \n"Cro-Magnon 'cave man' was not the stupid savage of Hollywood, but rather fully modern humans who lived in a different time and earned their living in a different way," Auel said in a press release. "Neanderthals are still unknowns, but far more advanced than most of us imagine, and both lived at the same time. When we first appeared we had to share our world with another advanced kind of human. The idea fascinated me." \nAlthough her novels are intensely researched and realistic Auel is still writing fiction. She takes sides and speculates on major debates and unknown factors in archeology.\n"She takes necessary artistic liberty to develop her story," Schick said. "The language issue is still hotly debated. She does make you think about it in a solid realistic way. She can help prehistorians think more thoroughly about their ideas in a fuller and more vibrant way." \nAlthough the people in the story lived long ago, Toth and Schick believe modern people are still basically the same and can relate to their lives.\n"It lets people know that it was real and we have not changed that much. Only 10,000 years ago every human was part of the Ice Age," Toth said.\nSchick agreed, saying everyone in today's day and age can relate to those characters involved in the story.\n"A lot of aspects of their lives are very familiar to our lives today, like their family groups and relationships, although we have technology and more material culture," she said. "It shows people a lot of continuity with the stone age past."\nRather than promote false or parodied ideas about the past as many Hollywood representations do Schick feels Auel's books spark genuine interest in archeology in readers.\n"It gets people interested in the reality of the archeological record through fiction. People will then be more inclined to pick up an archeology book and learn more," she said. "Many of my students say they first got interested in archeology though her books."\nOne such example is IU paleoanthropology graduate student Leslie Harlacker who credits Auel with fueling her interest in human evolution.\n"I first started reading her books when I was about 12 or 13 years old. I was fascinated how she could combine fiction with scientific knowledge with fiction. Ever since then I have really enjoyed reading her books," said Harlacker, who also admires the accuracy of Auel's series. "Taking it seriously improves the portrayal so people who read the books be can more assured that it is based on truth which it makes more believable. \n"I really doubt the "Flintstones" ever inspired any one to become an anthropologist like her books did for me." \nThe power of Auel's books and Hollywood to spark people's interest in archeology caused Toth and Schick to examine these portrayals in a class that is sometimes offered at IU.\n"We sometimes teach a course called Life in the Stone Age. The first part is text book information about the Stone Age and the rest of the course examines Hollywood versions of the Stone Age," Toth said. "We often have a conference call with Jean at her home in Portland and students can ask her how she came up with the ideas for her novels." \nTickets are free and available at CRAFT and Barnes and Noble.