Spec Fic: Ice Age scenes within more modern times

[Chy]

Could have been ten or twenty years ago that I read this book. I have a couple friends sure that it's American Gods, and a couple of friends who swear it's not.

Like AG, the bulk of the book was set in modern times, though I can't remember how skewed those modern times were. There were scenes that took place in the Ice Age, though, that followed a group of people who came to North America via the Bering Strait ice bridge. This is why some think it's gotta be America Gods. But here's what's tripping them up:

One of the characters in those scenes is a trans man. He was born a woman, decided he was a man, and everyone in the tribe said, "All right, then." He has a man's role in the tribe, and also has a wife. The wife is pregnant, and some of the tribe wonder if the husband fully transformed into a man. The more pragmatic POV character has noticed one of the other tribesmen sneaking off with the pregnant wife, however.

It seems like the Ice Age scenes had very little to do with the rest of the book--or maybe that only became apparent much later.

I do know American Gods has those scenes that take place in the Ice Age, but I'm still not sure if this trans man I remember was there, or in another book, and I can't find it mentioned in any internet searches. Help?

[Aerulan]

Ok so I skimmed American Gods til I found the chapter with the ice age tribe and there's this which fits what you describe
(view spoiler)[
"Kalanu, the scout, was a woman who dressed and walked as a man: she had even taken Dalani, a fourteen-year-old maiden, to be her wife. ."

and then later on in the chapter.

"Dalani gave birth to three boys, and some said that Kalanu had performed the final magic and could do the man-thing with her bride; while others said that old Gugwei was not too old to keep a young bride company when her husband was away; and certainly once Gugwei died, Dalani had no more children." (hide spoiler)]

The copy I have is the 10th anniversary one and that part is in Chapter 13. I'm not sure if anything is changed/expanded from the original version. So I'd say your friends who think it's American Gods are right, though so far as I read it's basically just those two paragraphs that mention it, so pretty easy to miss or forget.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Chy, are you still looking for this or did you find it?