In the Shadow of the Mammoth

Approximately twelve thousand years ago, a group of nomads known as the Clovis People roamed North America hunting woolly mammoths with stone-tipped spears.

Archaeologists know this from artifacts found in excavations all across the continent. But there is no written history from that time, so scientists can only guess how they lived.

Perhaps the Clovis hunters watched and learned from the wolves how to work together as a pack to bring down an animal much larger than they were. Living in small groups of about twenty people, the Clovis would be smart to follow the wolves example.

One mammoth could provide food for months, as well as hide for shelter and bone for tools.

This is the story of Zol, a Clovis boy. He lived at a time when beavers were as big as bears. When the scream of a sabre-toothed tiger could still pierce the night. When a moving mountain of hair could suddenly block out the sun.

This was the time of mammoths.

This was the Ice Age.

At eleven summers, Zol approaches manhood in his clan of Ice Age Hunters. He should be eager for his first mammoth hunt, but shameful fear gnaws at his insides like a hungry rat.

In his quest for courage, Zol barely escapes death in a raging river, stands face-to-face with a young mammoth, and survives two attacks by a long-toothed cat.

Zol gains confidence from these encounters. But will his new-found courage stand the test of the mammoth hunt?