Author Jean M. Auel gave a lecture on “Neanderthals, Archaeology, and Fiction” Friday night@@http://natural-history.uoregon.edu/education-and-events/events/neanderthals-archaeology-and-fiction-jean-auel@@ as the first part of the 2011 Archaeology Lecture Series sponsored by the Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Almost two hundred members of the community came out to hear about the author’s integration of archaeology and fiction.
The lecture series is an annual event and coincides with National Archaeology Month. Events across the state are celebrating archaeology, many sponsored by the State Historic Preservation Office in Salem.@@http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/SHPO/@@
Museum director Jon Erlandson, also a professor of anthropology at the University,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Jon+Erlandson@@ was instrumental in bringing Auel to the University.
“Jean was here about five years ago, and it seemed that it was timely because she’d just finished her series this March, and the books have been hugely popular,” he said. “She’s a local Oregonian, and we’ve known her for a number of years, and she’s been very supportive of archaeology, so we thought it’d be a great thing to bring her in.”
Auel, best known for her Earth’s Children series, she has sold over 45 million copies worldwide. Her books follow both Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon humans and the early interactions between the two species.
Her writing career began in 1977 when she decided to combine archaeology and fiction. She had not planned to be an author and had never taken a writing class prior to writing her book. She began researching Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals in the Portland Public Library to learn more about the subject.
The first of the series, “The Clan of the Cave Bear,” was released in 1980.@@http://www.theslowestbookworm.com/2011/03/review-clan-of-cave-bear.html@@ She wanted to better understand how many of her characters lived, so she prepared by taking classes that taught her how to live off the land, forage for plants and cure animal hides. This gave her sensitivity to the life of cavemen and allowed her to realistically describe how cavemen lived. Many of her characters are based on skeletons archeologists have found.
“Her books have done a really terrific job of popularizing archaeology and early humans for the general public,” Erlandson said. “And as she talked about today, she demonstrated that early humans were much more sophisticated than people think.”
Auel hopes that her books can help break what she calls the “Hollywood stereotype” of cavemen. She wants to make archaeology more accessible to the general public.
“Early modern humans were just like us. We must grant them all credit,” Auel said. “In my books I am trying to describe people as we know and understand them in a more natural world.”
The event attracted members mostly from the Eugene and Springfield communities. Many were fans of her books, others aspiring writers and some just wanted to learn about the past.
“I read Jean’s first book, ‘The Clan of the Cave Bear,’ when it came out,” artist Victoria Martinez said.@@probably http://www.facebook.com/anovationgroup#!/anovationgroup?sk=wall@@ “I saw it and I thought, ‘Oh, this is all very synchronous with my art.’”
Auel has written six books in the series, with the latest published last March. The big question on many audience members’ minds was whether or not there will be a seventh book.
“We’ll see. I need a break for the time being,” she said. “It feels good not to have someone waiting, saying ‘Finish it, finish it, finish it.’ It’s nice to not have readers waiting on you.”