“It was their home to use, but not to abuse.” Part of the Mother’s Song, and one of the beliefs of the Zelandoni, Auel’s Cro-Magnon tribe.

“It is greater than us, greater than everything.” Ayla’s comment on the star-filled skies. We don’t see the sky today as she did; there is too much ambient light.

“Never go forth when the mammoths go north.” Jondalar, quoting a Zelandonii saying. The idea behind it is that mammoths travel north to escape the deep snow a storm brings. True? Depends on where (and when) you are.

“If the snow doesn’t catch you, the lions will.” A continuation of the same saying. Cave lions supposedly had a relatively easy time preying on mammoths in deep snow.

“It’s hard to talk with your hands when you are holding a torch.” Ayla giving her reasons for thinking the Flatheads (Neanderthals) would not have entered caves often. Their conversation was carried out mostly with gestures.

“Her son was near grown. His mind was his own.” Again, part of the Mother’s Song. Children inevitably grow up and develop their own minds.

“I am alive, which still astonishes me.” Sue Ann Bowling, Jarn’s Journal, being posted a bit at a time on this blog. Jarn, a human-like alien, has crash-landed on Pleistocene Earth, and is trying to pull himself together.