The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

I finished reading this book a while ago but haven't gotten a chance to write about it until now. It was a fascinating look at anthropology set in the exotic world of fiction. Interestingly the author is quite the anthropologist herself and has won many awards for her research and fiction. I suppose fiction is a safe place to put  her findings since they remain largely unable to prove or disprove them.
The story catches you immediately. A little girl naked and frightened goes off in search of help after her whole world is devoured by a nasty earthquake. She's too young to make it on her own and ends up in the path of a wandering tribe who has been forced out of their cave by the same disaster. The girl being one of what the tribe would call "the others" might have been left to die except for the kindness of an old medicine woman who's maternal instinct would not allow the child be left behind. She carries the frightened child to what becomes her new world inside the clan. Instantly this child becomes a problem for the leader because she is different and he is frightened that she will change the delicate fabric that is their society. The girl represents humanity as it is now and the clan represents the cave man who's kind was eventually wiped out to make way for natures second shot at creating humanity that could last. Only near the end does the medicine woman's kindly brother Mog-Ur the clans magic man figure this out. There is a lot of drama around this girl as she tries desperately to become one of the clan and fights to survive. She quickly gains a terrible enemy in the leaders son Broud who has no compassion for the outsider and is jealous of the attention she gets.
It was interesting reading about the differences between the two types of humans and the girls coming of age story was fascinating but the author tended to spend inordinate amounts of time on discriptions which could discourage some readers. Altogether I don't see this series having the same potential as "The Outlander" but it is interesting and I will continue to read it.
The idea of a further evolved race emerging and causing a dilemma for the survival of the other race came up this week in the new X-Men movie. The mutants are not freaks as many humans would assume but really a more advanced version of them. The X-Men have chosen to work with humans to create peace between the two whereas the other mutants have chosen genocide. They see the earth only being able to populate one of the two evolved races and they intend to make sure they are the winners.