The Paper's reporter Wang Yu reported comprehensively
According to the British "Guardian" report, the body of an unidentified indigenous man was recently found in the Amazon region of Brazil, which attracted the attention of local officials, the media and indigenous protection organizations.
It is understood that the man often appeared alone in the rainforest during his lifetime, resisted contact with outsiders, and is considered the last member of his tribe. Because he hid in pits dug underground most of the time, he was accustomed to calling them "Indians in the caves".
The only image taken by the National Foundation of the Brazilian Indians during long-distance monitoring of the mysterious indigenous man. Video screenshots
A staff member of Brazil's National Indian Foundation (Funai) said that on August 23, the mysterious man was found lying in a hammock inside a small hut, his body in a state of decomposition, and found no signs of others near the house, nor signs of violence or fighting. With many brightly colored feathers placed around his body, officials believe the man is ready for death and estimates the man is about 60 years old.
"He doesn't trust anyone because he's had a lot of painful experiences with non-Indigenous peoples," Marcelo dos Santos said in an interview with The Guardian. Dos Santos is a retired explorer who was commissioned by the Brazilian National Indian Foundation to help monitor the health of the mysterious "cave man.".
Dos Santos said that in order to get close to the man, he and the foundation staff had deliberately left tools, seeds and food as gifts, but they were always refused. Not only that, but the men also showed obvious resistance, shooting arrows or setting traps at people who were approaching.
"Because he was adamant in resisting any contact during his lifetime, we can't know which race he belongs to or what his motives for digging the crypt." The Indigenous Rights Observatory (IPO) wrote after learning of the man's death.
The crypt dug by indigenous men is customarily called the "Indian in the Cave".
The IPO also noted that when the man was first identified 26 years ago by the Brazilian National Indian Foundation (Funai), he was located in the Tanarú Indigenous Area of Rondônia. The area sits on the border between Brazil and Bolivia, and many foreign ranchers, prospectors and loggers covet its precious natural resources. As a result, small pieces of arable land destroyed by ranchers as well as house wreckage destroyed by tractors can be seen at the site, including hand-dug craters. Funai launched a conservation program for the man and created the Tanaru Sanctuary in 1997.
"After brutal slaughter and land invasion, refusing to engage with outsiders was his best chance to survive," Sarah Shenker, an activist for survival international, a global tribal movement, said in an interview. She said that in the 1980s, some illegal ranchers would use rat poison to poison the indigenous people in the name of providing sugar products to the indigenous people, and the demise of the man's tribe may also be the reason for this.
"He was the last member of the tribe, and [his death] represents the extinction of another tribe." Sarah Schenck said.
Warning signs tell outsiders not to enter remote indigenous tribal reserves in western Brazil.
It is understood that the number of extant indigenous tribes in Brazil is about 235 to 300, and the exact number is difficult to determine, because some tribes have little contact with non-indigenous societies. At least 30 tribes live deep within the Amazon rainforest, and outsiders know little about their numbers, languages or cultures.
At present, the police have conducted a preliminary examination of the body of the Aboriginal man, which will be handed over to a forensic doctor of the Federal Police for autopsy. OPI calls for the conservation area to remain in its current state, asking local officials to conduct archaeological and anthropological studies to understand the person's background and way of life.
Editor-in-Charge: Wang Yu
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