It was given its nickname for its habit of building deep holes to trap animals and hide inside, the team said. The man had resisted all attempts to contact him, although authorities continued to watch him from afar, occasionally leaving supplies for him. Survival International said the rest of its tribe had been wiped out by numerous attacks since the 1970s, mainly by ranchers and land grabbers. “No outsider knew this man’s name, or even much about his race — and with his death the genocide of his people was complete,” said Fiona Watson, the group’s director of research and advocacy. “For this was indeed a genocide — the deliberate extermination of an entire people by pastoralists hungry for land and wealth.” The man’s body was found in a hammock in a hut by Funai officials on August 23. There were no signs of struggle, violence or the presence of other people in the area. He died of natural causes and his body will undergo a forensic examination by the Federal Police, according to Funai. The last known video of “Man of the Hole” was released by Funai in 2018, which appeared to show him hacking a tree with an axe-like tool. Survival International said his abandoned campsites left clues to his lifestyle — he planted crops such as maize and papaya and built houses of straw and thatch.
