We didn't know his name, we didn't know his exact age, but we did know that the "Man of the Hole" was the last of his kind. And we know that he died this year.
The man was the last inhabitant of the Tanaru Indigenous Land in Brazil, and last week government officials found his body in his hut.
There were no signs of violence or struggle, and an Indigenous peoples expert reported he was "dressed [with macaw feathers] as if waiting for death".
The man got his nickname from the near two-metre deep, narrow holes that he dug in the more than 50 huts Brazilian officials saw him construct over the years.
For decades the man had lived in seclusion after reports that the rest of the man's tribe had been massacred in a series of attacks from the 1970s onwards by ranchers wanting to expand their land.
The man had resisted all outside attempts to contact him and shot arrows at those who came too close, though authorities continued to monitor him from afar and occasionally left supplies for him.
Fiona Watson is the research and advocacy director of Survival International, a group that advocates for the rights of Indigenous people around the world.
"No outsider knew this man's name, or even very much about his tribe – and with his death the genocide of his people is complete," Ms Watson said.
"He symbolised both the appalling violence and cruelty inflicted on Indigenous peoples worldwide in the name of colonisation and profit, but also their resistance."
What are uncontacted tribes?
Uncontacted tribes are communities of Indigenous people that choose to avoid contact with the outside world, according to Survival International, a group that advocates for the rights of Indigenous people.
It's estimated that there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes in the world, with the highest concentration on the border of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia in South America.
The organisation is determined to dispel the myth of the "undiscovered tribe" as most uncontacted peoples are well aware of the modern world but actively choose to remain secluded.
Almost all are nomads and many are hunter-gatherers who have deep connections to the land and wildlife they inhabit.
What are the threats to uncontacted tribes?
By far the biggest threat to uncontacted tribes is us – the outside world.
For example, when Brazil's Indian affairs department FUNAI connected with the uncontacted Akuntsu tribe in 1995 they found that cattle ranchers had massacred most of the tribe in an effort to expand their land.
Just four Akuntsu people survive today after the tribe's leader died in 2016.
Contact from the outside world can also bring with it the threat of diseases including influenza, measles, and chicken pox, which uncontracted tribes have no immunity to.
When outsiders come into contact with these tribes, the response may be hostile.
In 2020, Rieli Franciscato a Brazilian government official and expert on isolated Amazon tribes, was killed with an arrow shot at him by an uncontacted tribe in the Uru Eu Wau Wau reservation near Boliva.
In 2018, Christian missionary John Allen Chau made multiple attempts to infiltrate and convert the notoriously private and hostile Sentinelese people who reside on an isolated island in the northeaster Indian Ocean.
Despite it being illegal for outsiders to enter the island, Mr Chau paid two fisherman to take him there where he brought gifts and a bible to the tribespeople.
The Sentinelese people killed Mr Chau and police were ultimately unable to retrieve his body.
However, other recorded encounters have been more peaceful.
In July 2014, the Brazilian government reported that several members of an uncontacted Amazonian tribe had spoken with the people in nearby villages.
With the help of translators, they discovered the tribe made contact out of fear rather than a desire to modernise.
The tribespeople described violent attacks from outsiders that drove them from their forest. They also detailed that a majority of their elders has been massacred and their houses had been set on fire.
According to the Brazilian government, illegal loggers and cocaine traffickers were the most likely culprits.
In 2019, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, facing pressure from agricultural and economic interests, scrapped some protections for the lands of Indigenous people.
How do we protect uncontacted tribes?
The issue of making contact with uncontacted tribes is hotly contested.
A 2016 observational report published in the US National Library of Medicine came to the conclusion that responsible outside interaction with uncontacted tribes was one of the only ways to avoid their extinction.
The paper's authors argued that provision of food, shelter, security, antibiotics, vaccines, and antiviral drugs would be the first steps to eliminate death within the tribes.
However, Survivalist International's official stance is that no person should go to tribes that aren't in regular contact with outsiders.
They say that any contact, benevolent or otherwise, puts the tribes at risk and advocate for greater protection for Indigenous lands in order to protect and preserve the unique communities.
