Last member of Amazon tribe, dubbed loneliest person in the world, dies in Brazil
- Man who lived in isolation for 26 years was the last living member of his tribe in Brazil
- He was known as the ‘Man of the Hole’ because he would construct holes inside huts
The last of his people, a Brazilian indigenous man known only as the “Man of the Hole” has been found dead, decades after the rest of his uncontacted tribe were killed off by ranchers and illegal miners, officials said.
Having lived in complete isolation for 26 years, the man – whose real name was never known to the outside world – was found in a hammock in a hut in the Tanaru indigenous territory in Rondonia state on the border with Bolivia on August 23, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) said in a statement.
Since losing everyone he knew, the man had refused all contact with the outside world and supported himself by hunting and raising crops. His nickname derived from his habit of digging deep holes inside the huts he built, possibly to trap animals in but also to hide inside.
He lived in an indigenous territory surrounded by vast cattle ranches and under constant threat from illegal miners and loggers in one of the most dangerous parts of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, according to Survival International.
Authorities did not comment on the cause of the man’s death, nor his age, which wasn’t known, but said “there were no signs of violence or struggle”.
They also found no evidence of the presence of anyone else in his home or around it.