30.5.08

Amazonian Tribe Found


I got a request from a reader to make a new post so my blog wasn't featuring the naked little girl photographed by Australian Bill Henson.

So I've decided to relay another Australian news article about naked people: a previously uncontacted South American tribe was filmed by a flyover plane, renewing Western interest in the plight of Indians being forced from their lands by illegal logging.

The first flyover yielded shots of the villagers slowly reacting to the aircraft, and by the second flyover the village had readied itself for battle with the unknown: red-painted warriors hefted bows and spears, accompanied by a woman painted in black, while younger tribes members crouched under the protection of the huts.

Personally, I think that they are fascinating photos. A true look into an unknown world, and into the past. Something Awful's discussion of the events tended towards a more humorous tenor, with a series of comparisons between these tribes people and the tribal Fallen in the Diablo II video game, as well as an extended discussion of the top five items to give a discovered tribe.

Still, the online exploration was not entirely unfruitful. A poster cited David Attenborough's fascinating hour-long documentary A Blank on the Map: First Contact with a Tribe, which follows more than 100 explorers as they travel through the depths of the unexplored Amazon in an effort to search out one of the few remaining undiscovered tribes. While a bit slow to start, I definitely recommend watching it if you are interested in this sort of thing.



And for those curious, here's my own list of 'Top 5 Things to Throw in a Box to an Uncontacted Indian Village.' Maybe not the most charitable list, but amusing nonetheless:

1. A giant monolith covered in nonsense glyphs and symbols.
2. A very durable remotely operated robot.
3. Party favors, everybody needs party favors.
4. A disease that they were immune to but we were not.
5. A gift of circa 1400s technology.

Add your own in the comments section if you have a mind to.

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