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From: rs55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Robert E. Schleicher)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Clan of the Cave Bear - info request
Message-ID: <671@ihuxk.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 2-Jul-84 14:21:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxk.671
Posted: Mon Jul  2 14:21:29 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 3-Jul-84 03:13:37 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 28

I've recently begun reading Jean Auel's book "The Clan of the Cave Bear",
which is (roughly speaking) about the adoption of a Cro-Magnon girl
into a clan of Neanderthals.  Although I've just started it, some questions
have come up.  The author seems to be claiming that the brain structure of
Neanderthals was substantially different than that of modern humans and/or
Cro-Magnons, in that there was inherently less ability to do creative thinking,
and in fact a limitation on thinking about the future.
   The author does mention the fact that the average brain size of Neanderthals
was somewhat larger than even present day humans.  She claims that this 
larger brain size was due to Neanderthals having an i9ncredible memory,
including both memory of their own experiences, and also "memory" of the
experiences of direct ancestors.  This concept was then expanded in the
book to propose a kind of communal memory, where members of a clan could
think as a unit, through there common memory of common ancestors.  This
communal memory was thus limited to thinking about the past.
    My question is:  These theories seem (to me at least) to be pretty
apeculative at best, and perhaps downright screwy.  However, in the forward
to the book,  the author gives the impression that a lot of research into
anthropological  sources was done, despite the fact that the book is
a work of fiction.  Does anyone who's read the book have any comment
on what anthropologists think of it?  Does the book represent theories
put forth by actual anthropologists?

Thanks,

Bob Schleicher
ihuxk!rs55611
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, Ill.