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'''The Shelters of Stone''' is an historical fiction novel by Jean M. Auel published in April 2002. It is the sequel to ''The Plains of Passage'' – published 12 years earlier – and fifth in the Earth's Children series.
''The Shelters of Stone'' is the fifth book in the Earth's Children series. It describes the return of Jondalar to his homeland along with Ayla.
Central to this book is the tension created by Ayla's healing art, her pregnancy and the acceptance of her by Jondalar's people, the Zelandonii. Ayla was raised by Clan Neanderthals, known as "flatheads" to the Zelandonii and considered by some of them to be animals at best. For the Zelandonii to accept Ayla they must first overcome their prejudice of the Neanderthals. Luckily for Ayla and Jondalar, some of the higher ranking (and incidentally Jondalars' relatives) Zelandonii already have doubts about the flatheads being animals.
Two of their number, Echozar and Brukeval, are of Neandertal ancestry and are ashamed of it. Echozar at least is pacified by Ayla's own story and by his (Echozar's) own marriage to Joplaya, Jondalar's half-sister. Brukeval, on the other hand, rejects his heritage utterly and refuses to listen to reason.
Also luckily, Jondalar's first romantic interest has now become the First among the spiritual leaders, and she is all for adopting Ayla, if not least for the healing arts she brings to the cave, although Ayla also has to overcome the feeling that she is not skilled in that area. After Ayla helps a mortally injured hunter live long enough to see his mate, the First senses that Ayla needs to be brought into the fold of the Zelandonia so that she will be accepted as a healer by all the people of the cave.
On a more pleasing note, Ayla persuades the native mothers to nurse a neglected infant, on the concerned pretext that even a "flathead" would have done so in their place. This both shames them into agreeing (as noted by Jondalar's sister-in-law, Proleva) and educates the Zelandonii in the ways of their ex-neighbors.
Ayla is drawn ever closer to an as yet undetermined role in the ninth cave of the Zelandonii. Her knowledge of the healing arts as well as hunting are forcing her to accept a role in the spiritual leadership of the group.
Through it all Jondalar is waiting for the summer meeting and matrimonial that will finally "tie the knot" for the two of them, his ultimate goal since The Valley of Horses.
This book is set in what is now the Vézère valley, near to Les Eyzies, in the Dordogne, southwest France. It was relatively densely populated in prehistoric times, with many open cliff-top dwellings that can still be seen, some of which have been turned into tourist attractions. The national museum of prehistory is located in this valley. Ayla discovers the world-famous cave of Lascaux, which her adopted people subsequently paint.
''The Shelters of Stone'' is the precursor to an as yet unnamed sixth book.