BBC Big Read 2021 discussion

What an interesting first chapter! The idea of a novel set 35,000 years ago, is in itself very intriguing. Since it's pre-history, of course this will all be fiction, but as I understand it, the author did a lot of research.
I've been reading about the Neanderthals, and there is contention about whether they were a separate species, Homo neanderthalenis, or Homo sapiens neanderthalenis contrasted with Homo sapiens sapiens. In other words, a sub-species? Most take a species to mean the smallest group that can reproduce and have offspring that can reproduce. A mule is a sterile offspring of a horse and donkey, a hybrid, not a separate species. There is no race of mules. While many say Homo neanderthalenis was a separate species, they also state that we have some DNA in some humans that was a product of sexual reproduction between the Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalenis. Obviously, if the latter is true, then we are not a separate species if we bred together.
There is conjecture that some of the improvements in DNA came form them but also some of the disease, autoimmune ones like Crohn's and Lupus.
Much has been made about the large mandible of the Neanderthal. Why does the author keep saying "chinless" when they have a large mandible. Isn't the chin the end of the mandibles? Anyway, another book I read supposed the large jaw was for the work of processing a vegetarian diet. Along with being vegetarian, maybe they were peaceable creatures that did not kill. The other author supposed that perhaps the Homo sapiens, with their small jaw and meat loving ways, were the vicious ones that caused Neanderthals to go extinct. Could Neanderthals actually embody the opposite of what we call "being a Neanderthal?" Even Mr. Biden last week said that people not wearing masks were acting like Neanderthals, smearing the name yet again of these possibly benign and pleasant creatures. Chapter 1 brings up a lot of interesting thoughts to chew on. I hope you are all enjoying, comment below.

Chapter ones brings us engagingly into a setting that is at once both familiar and foreign. There is the earth in all of its constancy and there are people. We are knocked abruptly out of our illusion of familiarity when the tiny child frolics fearlessly in a stream, drifting away from equally unconcerned grownups! I found myself suppressing a spasm of 21 century parental panic. "Its ok" I tell myself. "This is normal for pre-historic children." It isn't long however before I see that my concerns were justified. Disaster strikes and our little adventurer finds herself helpless and alone. I am effortlessly drawn into her plight. Her hardships are real
-saber tooth tiger real!- and I am awed at her courage and perseverance.

I have great expectations about this book, as its plot will be a first-timer to me in a book. We start our journey with the little girl that goes to explore, and then nature decides that it is time for some landscape changes, causing her to get separated from her parents.

One point that called out my attention was how resourceful she was after she was on her own. While trying to figure out a way to return to her parents, she had to survive.

Can you picture yourself running in the woods barefoot, dealing with rocks, thorns, and all other sorts of hurting or cutting things waiting for your feet?

This whole chapter is a thriller.

Wow, you'd really be out there! No tribe, no tools, no weapons, no extra clothes. It's hard to imagine ourselves in that position.