Man of the Hole

The Man of the Hole (Portuguese: índio do buraco, lit. 'Indian of the Hole'; c. 1960s – c. July 2022),^[1][2] or the Tanaru Indian (Portuguese: Índio Tanaru),^[3] was an indigenous person who lived alone in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. He was probably the only person living in Tanaru Indigenous Territory. The Brazilian government created that territory was created as a protected indigenous territory in 2007.

It is not known what language the Man of the Hole spoke, what his people called themselves, or what his name was. He was the last surviving member of his people after Brazilian settlers killed the other people of his group in a genocide in the 1970s–1990s. The Man of the hole lived alone from the mid-1990s until his death in 2022. From 1996, the Brazilian Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI) monitored and occasionally interacted with him from a distance, but he otherwise chose to remain isolated. Living primarily by hunting and gathering and moving frequently, he left behind a deep hole of unknown purpose in each of his homes. This was the reason for his nickname. The Man of the Hole survived another attack by an armed rancher in 2009. In 2018, his case attracted international attention when FUNAI released a video of him to raise awareness about the threats uncontacted peoples faced in Brazil. He was found dead in one of his homes in August 2022.