Name:_______________________________
Miss Raab
Anthropology, P.6
15 pt. Homework
“Isolated Peru tribe makes uncomfortable contact”
Members of the Mashco-Piro tribe of
Amazon Indians, photographed near Manu
National Park in Peru's southeast, normally
have no contact with outsiders.
Mashco-Piro tribe: Most detailed photos ever taken of uncontacted Indians are released
By Elizabeth Flock, www.washingtonpost.com
The
Mashco-Piro, who reside in Manú National Park, are one of only 100 or so uncontacted tribes in the
world. At this time last year, Survival International released aerial photos and footage of a community of
uncontacted Indians in Brazil:
After remaining out of sight for many years, the Mashco-Piro have been sighted often in recent months, even
appearing on the banks of a river environmental tourists like to visit. But a recent incident suggests the tribe still
desires to be left alone.
Nicolás “Shaco” Flores, a Matsiguenka Indian, was recently shot by a Mashco-Piro’s arrow near the national
park. Flores had left food and gifts for the Indians for the past 20 years.
Uncontacted tribes like the Mashco-Piro might be increasingly coming into view because they are being pushed
off their land, either by oil and gas projects or by illegal logging.
In October, an 8-year-old girl from one of the last uncontacted tribes in the Amazon was believed to have been
captured by loggers in Brazil, tied to a tree and then burned alive.
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'Uncontacted' Indians involved in violent encounters; authorities try to keep outsiders away.
By Frank Bajak, www.msnbc.com
LIMA, Peru — Peruvian authorities say they are struggling to keep outsiders away from a clan of previously
isolated Amazon Indians who began appearing on the banks of a jungle river popular with environmental
tourists last year.
The behavior of the small group of Mashco-Piro Indians has puzzled scientists, who say the encounters may be
related to the encroachment of loggers and by low-flying aircraft from nearby natural gas and oil exploration in
the southeastern region of the country.
Clan members have been blamed for two bow-and-arrow attacks on people near the riverbank in Madre de
Dios state, where officials say the Indians were first seen last May.
One badly wounded a forest ranger in October. The following month, another fatally pierced the heart of a
local Matsiguenka Indian, Nicolas "Shaco" Flores, who had long maintained a relationship with the MashcoPiro.
The advocacy group Survival International released photos Tuesday showing clan members on the riverbank,
describing the pictures as the "most detailed sightings of uncontacted Indians ever recorded on camera."
The British-based group provided the photos exactly a year after releasing aerial photos from Brazil of another
tribe classified as uncontacted, one of about 100 such groups it says exist around the world.
One of the Mashco-Piro photos was taken by a birdwatcher in August, Survival International said. The other
two were shot by Spanish archaeologist Diego Cortijo on Nov. 16, six days before Flores was killed.
Cortijo, a member of the Spanish Geographical Society, was visiting Flores while on an expedition in search of
petroglyphs and said clan members appeared across the river from Flores' house, calling for him by name.
Flores could communicate with the Mashco-Piro because he spoke two related dialects, said Cortijo, who
added that Flores had previously provided clan members with machetes and cooking pots.
The Mashco-Piro tribe is believed to number in the hundreds and lives in the Manu National Park that
borders Diamante, a community of more than 200 people where Flores lived.
Less Isolated Habitat
Although it's not known what provoked the Mashco-Piro clan to leave the relative safety of their tribe's jungle
home, Beatriz Huerta, an anthropologist who works with Peru's agency for indigenous affairs, speculated their
habitat is becoming increasingly less isolated.
The upper Madre de Dios region where the tribe lives has been affected by logging, she said. "They are
removing wood very close."
Meanwhile, Huerta said, naturalists in the area and Manu National Park officials told her during a recent visit
that a rise in air traffic related to natural gas and oil exploration in the region is adversely affecting native
hunting grounds, forcing increasing migration by nomadic tribes.
The clan that showed up at the river is believed to number about 60, including some 25 adults, said Carlos
Soria, a professor at Lima's Catholic University who ran Peru's park protection agency last year.
"It seemed like they wanted to draw a bit of attention, which is a bit strange because I know that on other
occasions they had attacked people," Cortijo said by phone from Spain. "It seemed they didn't want us to go
near them, but I also know that the only thing that they wanted was machetes and cooking pots."
Cortijo said the group lingered by the river a few minutes, apparently to see if a boat would pass by so they
could ask for some tools, something authorities say they had done in the past.
"The place where they are seen is one of heavy transit" of river cargo and tourist passage, and so the potential
for more violent encounters remains high, Soria said.
Culture Clash
The situation is compounded by culture clash. The Mashco-Piro live by their own social code, which Soria said
includes the practice of kidnapping other tribes' women and children.
He said the Mashco-Piro are one of about 15 "uncontacted" tribes in Peru that together are estimated to
number between 12,000 and 15,000 people living in jungles east of the Andes.
"The situation is incredibly delicate," said Huerta, the government anthropologist.
"It's very clear that they don't want people there," she said of the area where the clan has been loitering, noting
that it had ransacked a jungle ranger's post that authorities later removed.
One of the clan's likely fears is being decimated by disease borne by outsiders, as has occurred with other
uncontacted peoples, Huerta said.
But it's also a mystery why they have appeared in an area so heavily trafficked, she added.
After the first sightings, and after tourists left clothing for the Mashco-Piro, state authorities issued a directive in
August barring all boats from going ashore in the area. But enforcing it has been difficult as there are few
trained and willing local officials.
Authorities say they aren't sure why Flores was killed. It could be that the Mashco-Piro were angry because he
hadn't provided them with more machetes and cooking pots. Or perhaps it was because they considered the
farming plot where he was killed too close to what they considered their territory.
Cortijo, the Spanish archaeologist, said the loss of Flores makes reaching any understanding with the MashcoPiro very complicated.
"The problem is that 'Shaco' was the only person who could talk to them," he said. "Now that he's dead it's
impossible to make contact."
CHECK THIS OUT!!!  http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/
HOMEWORK QUESTIONS:
1. How would you describe these people? What would you say about them at first glance?
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2. Why are the Mashco-Piro people becoming increasingly aggressive?
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3. What issues are scientists and anthropologists running into (there are more answers than just “aggression”)?
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4. In order to gain more understanding about the Mashco-Piro tribe, what do you feel you would have to
do?
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5. In one-two paragraphs on the next page, please explain which fields of anthropology would need to be
used in order to successfully bridge the gap between “outsiders” and the indigenous tribe.
(Please include details of what each job would be and why.)
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6. In your opinion, what should we do with the people of the Mashco-Piro tribe? Why? Explain.
(Should we continue to study them? Should we leave them alone? Should we charge them with homicide?)
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