The Mammoth Hunters

Ayla and Jondalar are welcomed by the Mamutoi, a community of mammoth hunters living on the open steppe. Ayla’s medical knowledge, skill with animals and ability to make fire quickly earn respect, but she must learn unfamiliar social customs and decide whether she can belong to a people who resemble her yet do not share her upbringing.

Her growing attachment to Ranec, a gifted ivory carver, creates a painful division between her and Jondalar. As the community prepares for communal hunts and the summer gathering, Ayla faces choices about love, kinship and identity while the novel depicts mammoth hunting, seasonal movement, craft production and exchange among Upper Paleolithic groups.