The last known member of an indigenous tribe located in the western Brazilian Amazon region has been found dead, according to officials.
Sometimes referred to as the “Man of the Hole” for his propensity to dig holes, the unnamed man lived in isolation for roughly 26 years until he was found dead of apparent natural causes at the estimated age of 60, the BBC reported.
WATCH: BRAZILIAN TWINS CONJOINED AT THE HEAD SEPARATED AFTER THREE YEARS
Patrols in the area found his body outside his straw hut in a hammock, and officials concluded there were no indications of foul play, per the report. Macaw feathers covered his body, which indigenous expert Marcelo dos Santos said likely indicated that the man knew he was about to die, the outlet said.
“He was waiting for death. There were no signs of violence,” Santos said, noting the man likely died 40 to 50 days before patrols discovered his body.
The man lived in the Tanaru Indigenous Territory of the Brazilian state of Rondonia, which is near Bolivia, and is believed to have been the only inhabitant of the area, Fox News reported. Most of his tribe is thought to have been wiped out in the 1970s by ranchers keen on expanding their land.
In 1995, an attack from illegal miners killed six of his tribe, rendering him the last known survivor, per the outlet. Officials are now planning to do an assessment of his body to determine if he was killed by a disease.
Details about the man are scarce due to his isolation from much of the outside world. The language he spoke is not known. Workers for Brazil’s Indigenous Affairs Agency, or Funai, managed to capture footage of him in 2018, reports said.
An isolated Indigenous man known as the “man of the hole” has died in the Amazon; he is thought to be the last of his tribe
He resisted all attempts to contact him over decades, during which his family was killed. He shot arrows at anyone who came closehttps://t.co/7dK2NiQt7z pic.twitter.com/lTFuWKyDEO
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 28, 2022
“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. For this was indeed a genocide — the deliberate wiping out of an entire people by cattle ranchers hungry for land and wealth,” said Fiona Watson, Survival International’s research and advocacy director, who visited the region.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Watson speculated that the man dug holes to hunt for food. Some of the holes he dug had serrated stakes in them, according to advocacy group Survival International, which lobbied for his land to be safeguarded from outsiders.
The holes may also have had a spiritual meaning to the man, said Altair Jose Algayer, the agent who discovered the man dead. Others have argued they were likely used to hide.
