An indigenous man living alone in the Amazon rainforest and who had no contact with the modern world was found dead last week, according to authorities.
The man’s body was found inside his hut on Aug. 23 within the Tanaru Indigenous Land in the Brazilian state of Rondonia, according to a press release from the country’s indigenous protection agency, known as Funai.
Officials said that there “no signs of violence or struggle,” nor were there any signs of people recently visiting the area around his hut. Multiple outlets reported that the man was thought to be around 60 and had died of natural causes.
Funai “informs, with immense regret, the death of the indigenous known as ‘Tanaru Indian’ or ‘Hole Indian,’ who lived in voluntary isolation and was monitored and protected by Funai through the Ethnoenvironmental Protection Front,” the agency said in a press release, translated from the original Portuguese with computer assistance.
The man was often referred to as the “Man of the Hole” because he dug deep holes around his territory, including one in his hut.
He had been living alone and isolated from modernity for the past 26 years.
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Most of his tribe was thought to have been killed in the early 1970s after clashing with cattle ranchers, according to the BBC, and six of his remaining tribe members were killed in an attack by illegal miners in 1995.
The outlet said Funai learned of the man’s existence in 1996 and had been keeping tabs on him ever since.
He was last caught on film in 2018 by a government team, according to nonprofit group Survival International. In the video, he appeared to be using a crudely made ax to chop at a tree.
“No outsider knew this man’s name, or even very much about his tribe – and with his death, the genocide of his people is complete,” said Fiona Watson, the director of research and advocacy for Survival International.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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