The Tulat

See here.

The Beringian Tulat must be the most primitive possible human society:

families living apart;

periodic gatherings, e.g., to lie in the warm mud and wash in the hot water at Bubbling Springs every autumn;

more frequent contact via individual travelers, mostly young men seeking mates;

simple rites and grisly legends;

fear of demons, ghosts, storms, predators, sickness and starvation;

merriment, love and spontaneous pleasures;

reverence for the bear;

fish caught by hand or in primitive wiers;

collection of shellfish, eggs, nestlings, grubs, roots and seasonal berries;

snaring of birds and small game;

occasional capture of a fawn, calf or whelp or discovery of still edible large carcasses with useable hides. 

By contrast, the invading Cloud People can not only kill a mammoth but also use every part of its body - flesh, fat, bones, tusks, teeth, hide and hair. The Tulat are:

"'...a static society barely past the eolithic stage (also here) - if people that thinly scattered can even be called a society...'" (The Shield Of Time, p. 168) -

- whereas the Cloud People are:

"'An advanced, dynamic, progressive culture...'" (ibid.)