Last of his tribe, Amazon’s ‘man of the hole’ dies

He was believed to be the last of his tribe, enduring attacks on his land and the deaths of friends and family in their Amazon home.

Now he himself is dead, and his culture and language is lost, reports the Guardian.

Known simply as the Indio do Buraco – indigenous man of the hole – from the time spent keeping out of sight in holes he’d dug, the man had rebuffed all attempts at contact, and gifts of food or tools since being noticed by authorities in the 1990s.

It was thought that his tribe was killed by illegal ranchers in the eighties who left rat poison, Marcelo dos Santos, who monitored the man for Brazil’s Indigenous foundation, Funai, told the Guardian.

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The man didn’t trust anyone as “he had many traumatising experiences with non-Indigenous people,” dos Santos said.

The man’s body was discovered by another of the organisation’s officials, in a hammock. It was believed he was aged about 60 years old.

He may have realised he was dying as he had arranged coloured feathers around himself, the Guardian reported.

Little is known about as many as 30 groups of people understood to be living in the Amazon jungle, however indigenous tribes are increasingly facing threats to their land by illegal incursions.