As reported by The Guardian, footage of an uncontacted indigenous man in the Brazil's Amazon forest. He is believed to be around 50 years old and the last of his tribe. The video shows the man quite clearly through some foliage as he tries to fell a big tree.
The term "uncontacted" may seem a little strange at first, when the person in question is being filmed from what looks like a distance of fifty metres and when "Axes, machetes and seeds traditionally planted by indigenous people have been left for the man to find." But, according to Survival Internarional's "uncontacted tribes" page, it can mean "tribal peoples who have no peaceful contact with anyone in the mainstream or dominant society. These could be entire peoples or smaller groups of already contacted tribes." He survives by hunting and digging holes:
He hunts forest pigs, birds and monkeys with a bow and arrow and traps prey in hidden holes filled with sharpened staves of wood. He and his group were known for digging holes and his hammock is strung over one in his house.
The reason for this man's lonely existence is easy to guess: the region's violent colonial history. In the 70s and 80s (and also much earlier) pushed much of his tribe out of the area and of existence, with survivors in other tribes describing how "farmers shot at their backs when they fled raids on their villages." Apparently the man was the only survivor of an attack on the six remaining members of his tribe in 1996.
There are apparently 113 uncontacted tribes still living in Brazil's Amazon. Only 27 of them have been confirmed.
