<Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> The Valley of Horses </Td> </Tr> <P> The Clan of the Cave Bear is an epic historical novel by Jean M. Auel about prehistoric times . It is the first book in the Earth's Children book series which speculates on the possibilities of interactions between Neanderthal and modern Cro - Magnon humans . </P> <P> The novel references the advance of the polar ice sheets, setting the story before 18,000 years Before Present (BP), when the farthest southern encroachment of the last glacial period of the current ice age occurred . Auel's time - frame, somewhere between 28,000 and 25,000 years BP, corresponds generally with archaeological estimates of the Neanderthal branch of mankind disappearing . </P> <P> A five - year - old girl, who readers come to understand is Cro - Magnon, is orphaned and left homeless by an earthquake that destroys her family's camp . She wanders aimlessly, naked and unable to feed herself, for several days . Having been attacked and nearly killed by a cave lion and suffering from starvation, exhaustion, and infection of her wounds, she collapses, on the verge of death . </P>

When is clan of the cave bear set