Last member of uncontacted ethnic group dies in Amazon

Brazil’s national indigenous agency Funai reported that the indigenous man living in isolation in the Tanaru territory, Rondônia state, northern Brazil, passed away last Tuesday (Aug 23). Known as “the Man of the Hole,” he was the last member of an unidentified ethnic group that was massacred in the 1990s.

The man had been monitored by the agency for 26 years. His body is said to have been found by environmentalists inside a hammock in the hut where he lived. An investigation was conducted by the Federal Police and joined by forensic specialists from Brasília and Vilhena, Rondônia. The analysis was accompanied by Funai officials.

No signs of violence were reported at the site. “The belongings, utensils, and objects customarily used by the indigenous man remained in their proper places. In the interior of the hut there were two fire places near his hammock,” the note from the agency reads. According to Funai, which deeply regretted the loss, the man’s death apparently resulted from natural causes.

The isolated indigenous people who lived in the region were targeted by a number of attacks throughout the 80s and 90s. As a result, the group, small as it already was, was decimated, leaving the man as the sole survivor, whose characteristic feature was to dig holes in the huts where he lived.

Funai made a few attempts to contact the man until it became clear their approach was not welcome. Then, since 2005, he had been only monitored by Funai staff, who occasionally left tools and seeds wherever the man passed by.