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.

Nice small picture

[Anonymous Coward]

I like how Slashdot linked to the smallest picture available. The actual pictures are surprisingly good.

Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans?

[VeNoM0619]

You're right, the picture [survival-i...tional.org] that the summary links to does look fake, 90x57 dimensions are high def enough for me to tell that this is all CGI.

Another link to pictures

[FunkyELF]

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

Actually, I'd guess Civ 3

[Moraelin]

Actually, I'd guess more like Civ 3. That was the one with the antitank spearmen. And mighty cavemen in sabertooth-skin loincloths, cleaving your tank in twain with their mighty stone axe.

Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans?

[elrous0]

Better versions are at CNN. Pic 1 [cnn.net] and Pic 2 [cnn.net]

Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans?

[elrous0]

Oops, here is Pic 2 [cnn.net]

What the Pictures Tell Us

[superyooser]

The BBC has good photos [bbc.co.uk] and a close-up with explanations of the people and objects seen [bbc.co.uk].

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?

[Chris Burke]

Is it just me, or do some of those "tribesmen" look like they're wearing colonial Spanish armour? Looks like pictures taken from a movie set or as a joke to me.

No, I think it's just you, it doesn't look like Spanish armor at all. Just because you're wearing a hat that's rather tall in the middle and slopes down on either side doesn't make you a Conquistador.

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:Earth Tribe

[Shakrai]

It would probably be hubris to think something that advanced would go out of their way to invade us.

Why would that be hubris? It's not exactly unpredecented [wikipedia.org] for an advanced power to displace a less advanced one.

Invade is probably the wrong word though. Nature is full of examples of more adaptable/aggressive/advanced life forms pushing out less adaptable/aggressive/advanced ones. That's the most likely explanation for the disappearance of the Neanderthals -- displaced by more aggressive/adaptable Cro-Magnons. Homo Sapiens have done it to each other too (see the aforementioned link). It's not even unique behavior of ours either. Other animals do the exact same thing [wildlifetrusts.org] (try being a red squirrel and having to compete with gray squirrels).

Re:We know who wins this one

[Wodin]

ummm... I think you mean 63 years.

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 [dailymail.co.uk] 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!)

Re:To be a fly on a hut wall

[gambolt]

right, according to wikipedia [wikipedia.org]

Uncontacted peoples are peoples who, either by choice or chance, live without significant contact with the larger civilizations of the world.

Recent usage favors the term "isolated" rather than "uncontacted" as few peoples have remained totally uncontacted by modern civilization, but a number have chosen to make contact either exceedingly difficult or dangerous. Many indigenous rights activists call for such groups to be left alone in respect of their right to self-determination.

Re:It does work like that sometimes, though

[Abcd1234]

On the whole it was openly hostile to the Europeans, and preaching the extinction or enslavement of Europeans by the natives, and using such visual metaphors as fattening a white pig representing the Europeans to slaughter it when the ancients return. But funnily enough, it also incorporated a lot of stuff which was mocking what the Europeans did. E.g., military parades, blessing water for their religious ceremonies, etc.

Just to go on about this a little, if you believe Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], many of these cults involved the belief that the cargo being received by the Europeans (or Americans or whomever) were gifts from the gods/ancestors/etc, and that the native tribes were in fact the rightful receivers of these gifts. So they began to mimic the behaviour of the Europeans (or Americans or whomever), believing that these actions were rituals that would bring these gifts to them, while meanwhile exhibiting outward hostility to the invaders who were taking the cargo that was rightfully theirs.

Re:the unforgiving God thingy

[FroMan]

Even if that weren't the case, don't Christians believe that all the Old Testament stuff (some of which is quite strange IIRC) is, uh, "deprecated" anyway?

Most Christians see the levitical law as "deprecated" as Christ fulfilled the role of the sacrifice and atonement for sin. Some of the odder laws actually have a bit of reason behind them that isn't apparent at first. Such as, do not boil a kid in it's mother's milk as something some of the other tribes in the area were doing. Others, we can only speculate at the reason.

But the law is really only a small portion of the old testament. The Bible shows many facets of God. A lot of folks think the old testament is all fire and brimstone, but that is far from an accurate description.

Take the book of the Hosea for instance. Hosea is told to marry a harlot (whore) which he does and is told to love her. Well, over time his wife fools around with other men and is all along unfaithful. Well, through this seemingly un-Godly thing that God commands Hosea, he teaches Israel that they are being unfaithful towards God. As Hosea tries to claim his wife back time after time, it shows that God chases after Israel time after time. This would hardly be said to be "deprecated" as it is showing a facet of God.

There is a large portion of the old testament that is also historical. These parts also would not be considered "deprecated" just as we do not toss history books simply because they are old (well, assuming we are not being revisionists in the public school system).

There is the wisdom literature, such as Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, which is still relevant for today. Everyone who has heard the song "To Everything There Is a Season" knows that. ;-)

So, no, Christians in general do not believe the old testament is "deprecated" by any means. Simply some parts have been fulfilled by Christ.

Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans?

[bcmm]

I believe part of the reason for keeping them isolated is that many tribes in similar situations have been effectively wiped out by diseases they lacked exposure and therefore immunity to, such as chicken pox and even common cold.

Re:Prioritize, people!

[mrchaotica]

My figures might be off, but I believe it's something like the almost all the genes of our species can be traced to maybe 500 individuals 2000 years ago.

Yep, those figures are off: 2,000 years ago, there were over 1 million people in downtown Rome alone. Maybe you mean 20,000 years?

Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans?

[vertigoCiel]

Their food isn't just lying around. They have to spend the majority of the day hunting/searching for it. Then they need to prepare it, which may involve skinning it (no easy task). Then it's cooked and eaten. They probably sleep on the ground, and have no amenities like AC, showers, reliable clean water, deodorant, or medicine.

No matter how unsatisfying modern day-to-day life can be, it doesn't make that sort of lifestyle doesn't look very appealing to me.

Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans?

[hey!]

Speaking of which, I've been playing around with making bows recently.

Those bows look pretty well designed and made. And these guys look well fed, so they're probably a good shot. They could probably put an arrow between your eyes at fifty yards. Depending on the power of their bows, they could hit a target like the helicopter at twice that range. If they did, the arrows would very likely penetrate the skin of the helicopter and still have enough momentum to seriously injure anybody inside.

There are stories of European explorers encountering Cherokee archers; the flint arrowheads (which weren't razor sharp, by the way; they were sharper) could penetrate a steel breastplate, shattering and killing the victim with stone shrapnel. I read of one rider who was wearing cuirassier's armor who was pinned to his horse when an arrow penetrated his thigh armor.

Given that these people are woodland people who hunt and fight on foot, they probably have similar bows. They look rather broad limbed and tapered, a design that results in a reliable, powerful and fast casting bow of reasonable draw weight.

Bows and arrows may not be very "advanced", but underestimating how deadly a well designed bow in the hand of a skilled archer can be might well be the last thing you ever did. The helicopter might have scared these guys shitless, but when they grabbed their bows I'll bet they were quite confident that they could kill anything that came within bowshot stone dead. And they'd probably be right.