Source: National Geographic
New Home ConstructionPhotographed during an aerial survey deep in the Amazon Basin, two large, newly built huts help confirm the existence of a previously unknown "uncontacted" tribe, Brazilian authorities announced last week.
The April flyover followed extensive research, including expeditions on the ground and study of satellite images. "We rarely find a tribe like this by chance," said expedition leader Fabricio Amorim, who coordinates the Ethno-Environmental Protection Front of FUNAI, Brazil's Indian-affairs agency.
"There is a lot of work involved. It's like putting a puzzle together."
Although no tribe members were photographed, there's plenty of evidence they're in residence and active.
The condition of the shelters and the degree of fading of the palm-thatch roofs indicate the structures were built around a year ago, he said. Also, the presence of corn fields in the area suggests the site may have been cleared recently. Corn tends to be one of the first crops planted after clearing, Amorim explained.
But why were no people spotted? "They could have been scared by the airplane and hid themselves in the jungle, or maybe were out hunting."
Farm HouseA total of four houses belonging to the newfound Amazon group—including the one pictured, which is surrounded by banana trees and possible peanut plants—were found in three clearings in Brazil's Javari Valley Indigenous Reserve. (Related: writer Scott Wallace's commentary on the discovery of the new tribe.)
The biggest of the newfound buildings is about a hundred feet (30 meters) long and 20 feet (6 meters) tall, giving a hint of the tribe's size.
"The number of residents living in the houses could vary according to how they organize themselves," Amorim said. "But I would say, in a conservative estimation, that these houses could host up to 400 Indians."
In all, around 2,000 Indians live in the Javari Valley reserve, FUNAI estimates. The 21-million-acre (8.5-million-hectare) sanctuary is said to have the highest concentration of uncontacted tribes on Earth.
Previously Known Uncontacted TribeIndians from another Javari Valley tribe gaze up at a survey plane in an undated picture.
The newly confirmed Brazilian tribe was found near the Peruvian border a few hundred miles from the spot where Brazilian authorities famously photographed red-painted uncontacted Indians pointing arrows at a helicopter in 2008 (see picture).
The Brazilian Indian agency's policy is to not contact such tribes but to protectively monitor their land for signs of encroachment, for example by extraction industries, according to Survival International, a London-based tribal-rights nonprofit. The group stresses that it's crucial that authorities remove any illegal invaders from the reserve.
It's very unlikely that the so-called uncontacted tribes have had zero experience with outsiders or other Indian groups, said Conrado Octavio of the nonprofit, BrasÃlia-based Indigenous Working Center.
Isolation may be their choice, said Octavio, adding that the often used term "uncontacted tribe" is controversial—Brazilian authorities call the groups isolated tribes. In general, the tribes know there are bigger societies elsewhere, said Octavio, who has participated in aerial surveys.
Forest HomeIncluding the previously known tribe pictured above in an undated photo, there are 77 known isolated tribes in Brazil—including "confirmed tribes," tribes "under study," and "recently contacted" tribes—FUNAI says.
FUNAI's Amorim says isolated Amazon tribes tend to change locations around every two to four years, based on their houses' conditions, local soil quality, and food and fresh water availability.
The April overflights that found the new uncontacted tribe also spotted abandoned houses surrounded by evidence of farming—perhaps past homes of the newfound tribe, according to Amorim.
Long HouseAnother confirmed isolated tribe (settlement pictured in an undated photo) in the Javari Valley appears to live similarly to the group found in April.
FUNAI plans to monitor the recently confirmed tribe via satellite imagery, which isn't sharp enough to show individual people. A follow-up expedition to the area is expected later this year or next, though direct contact is not on the agenda. No more overflights are planned for now.
"Flying over the tribe is very aggressive to them," Amorim said.
"We only do it when we really have to. They don't seem to want to make contact, so we have to respect that."
Home Sweet DomeThe hut of another, previously known uncontacted tribe sits in an Amazon clearing in an undated picture.
Amorim said the newfound Javari Valley tribe apparently faces no major threats for now. The surrounding area, though, is highly threatened by illegal fishing, hunting, logging, mining, food production, missionary activities, drug trafficking, and oil exploitation, he said.
(Also see "Five 'Uncontacted Tribes' Most Threatened With Extinction.")
Monitoring of the newfound group, he said, is crucial. If it's found, for example, that the new group is hunting outside the reserve, FUNAI will move to expand the sanctuary's borders.
