Previously Uncontacted Amazon Tribe Photographed

ManicMechanic and other readers sent in news of a tribe of aboriginal people from the border of Peru and Brazil that has been photographed by helicopter for the first time. The images show huts in a village and people in red body paint shooting arrows at the helicopter. The outfit that released the photos, Survival International, works to end illegal logging in the rainforest in order to protect the uncontacted tribes living there. They estimate that 100 uncontacted groups exist worldwide, about half of them in the Amazon basin.

Comments

Another link to pictures

[FunkyELF]

news.google.com ... search for amazon ... http://www.ctv.ca/gallery/html/tribe_080530/photo_0.html

What the Pictures Tell Us

[superyooser]

The BBC has good photos and a close-up with explanations of the people and objects seen.

Although we do not know the name of the recently discovered tribe in Brazil, or what language they speak, it is possible to tease out some clues as to their way of life from the aerial photographs taken by the Brazilian government. ...

Re:Arrogance.

[Paul Jakma]

From the BBC article: Being uncontacted, these tribes have no immunity to a number of otherwise mild diseases, so contact often leads to deaths (smallpox, flu, etc).

Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans?

[DanielHC]

As far as i know, there will be no contact between them and... the rest of the world. Our government (yes, I'm from Brazil) said that making contact would be a violation of their rights (?). So, the idea is to demarcate their land, and let them enjoy stone age.

PS. by "our government" I mean FUNAI, the government agency that takes care of the indians.

Re:Arrogance.

[flaming error]

> Maybe it is wrong to not give them the choice.

Maybe it's kind of arrogant to think they don't have the choice already. They can go exploring other places if they want to.

Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans?

[datapharmer]

Well if you read the article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1022822/Incredible-pictures-Earths-uncontacted-tribes-firing-bows-arrows.html you would know that they painted themselves after the helicopter made its first pass and is likely a sign of aggression. As an Anthropologist I can tell you that elaborate body painting is not uncommon in this region. This is real, but the information is rather poor quality and biased (and the latter article is very ethnocentric - you will NEVER find a culture that hasn't changed in 10,000 year's contact or not!)