The tribe that suffered this latest atrocity is known as the flecheiros — or Arrow People — a seldom-glimpsed group of hunter-gatherers living in extreme isolation inside the Javari Valley indigenous land, one of a dozen reserves in the Amazon that are home to uncontacted indigenous populations. I trekked through their land on a 10-week expedition through the far reaches of the Javari Valley with Funai in 2002. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Many of these isolated groups splintered off from larger, now-settled communities, and their cultures are familiar to anthropologists and other experts. We do know that they are deft archers who have retreated into one of the Amazon’s most inaccessible redoubts, from which they shun all contact with the outside world.

Source: New York Times September 23, 2017 20:37 UTC