<P> The narrative switches to a group of people who call themselves "The Clan" and who we come to understand are Neanderthal, whose cave was destroyed in the earthquake and who are searching for a new home . The medicine woman of the group, Iza, discovers the girl and asks permission from Brun, the head of the Clan, to help the ailing child, despite the child being clearly a member of "the Others", the distrusted antagonists of the Clan . The child is adopted by Iza and her brother Creb . Creb is this group's "Mog - ur" or shaman, despite being deformed as a result of the difficult birth resulting from his abnormally large head and the later loss of an arm and eye after being attacked by a cave bear . The clan call her Ayla, the closest they can come to saying her "strange" name . After traveling with them for a while and starting to heal, Ayla wanders away from the group when they stop to discuss what they should do since they haven't found a new home and she discovers a huge, beautiful cave, perfect for them; many of the people begin to regard Ayla as lucky, especially since good fortune continues to come their way as she lives among them . </P> <P> In Auel's books, the Neanderthal possess only limited vocal apparatus and rarely speak, but have a highly developed sign language . They do not laugh or even smile, and they do not cry; when Ayla weeps, Iza thinks she has an eye disease . </P> <P> Ayla's different thought processes lead her to break important Clan customs, particularly the taboo against females handling weapons . She is self - willed and spirited, but tries hard to fit in with the Neanderthals, although she has to learn everything first - hand; she does not possess the ancestral memories of the Clan which enable them to do certain tasks after being shown only once . </P> <P> Iza trains Ayla as a medicine woman "of her line", the most prestigious line of medicine women out of all of the Clans . It takes her much longer to train Ayla than it will her own daughter, Uba, since Ayla does not possess the memories of the Clan . When Ayla grows up, Iza is concerned she will never find a mate and no one will want her, making her a burden to the Clan, so she trains her to be a highly respected medicine woman so she will have her own "status" and will not have to rely on the status of a possibly lowly mate . </P>

Where does clan of the cave bear take place