<P> The novel references the advance of the polar ice sheets , setting the story before 18,000 years Before Present ( BP ) , when the farthest southern encroachment of the last glacial period of the current ice age occurred . Auel 's time - frame , somewhere between 28,000 and 25,000 years BP , corresponds generally with archaeological estimates of the Neanderthal branch of mankind disappearing . </P>
when is clan of the cave bear set
before 18,000 years Before Present somewhere between 28,000 and 25,000 years BP