The exploration of the Southern Continent and discovery of ancient human relics there (including the activities of Piemur and Menolly from the Harper Hall trilogy) also figure in the novel, which ends where All the Weyrs of Pern begins.
The investigation into the Southern Continent and the discovery of ancient human remains, as seen through the eyes of Piemur and Menolly from the Harper Hall trilogy (as presented in the novel), overlaps with its concluding plot that mirrors the beginning of All the Weyrs of Pern.