Two important questions...

(1) in the beginning of the film, we see the earthquake and how Ayla gets separated from her mother and then her mother dies. But, would the two of them have been all alone like that? Wouldn't others of their group have been nearby? Are we supposed to believe that (a) they all got killed off too or (b) they just hightailed it out of the area and never thought to check on Ayla or her mother?

(2) when Ayla runs into the little cleft in the rock and avoids getting eaten by the lion, she still gets a series of terrible and deep scratches on her leg from the animal. Then we see her walking, blood running down her leg and obviously very weak. When she is found by the Neanderthals, she has collapsed and would probably have died if the clan did not take her in. Are we to believe that she was just a very strong specimen? Those wounds look awful and God knows what was on that animal's nails when it scratched her.