Stone Age tribe kills fishermen who strayed on to island

One of the world's last Stone Age tribes, the Sentinelese, has murdered two fishermen who drifted on to their Indian Ocean desert. The Sentinelese subsist entirely as hunter gathers and arm themselves with javelins and flat bows that they enthusiastically use to kill anyone who ventures onto their island.

The Sentinelese, thought to number between 50 and 200, have rebuffed all contact with the modern world, firing a shower of arrows at anyone who comes within range. They are believed to be the last pre-Neolithic tribe in the world to remain isolated and appear to have survived the 2004 Asian tsunami.

The two men killed, Sunder Raj, 48, and Pandit Tiwari, 52, were fishing illegally for mud crabs off North Sentinel Island, a speck of land in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago.

After the fishermen's families raised the alarm, the Indian coastguard tried to recover the bodies using a helicopter but was met by the customary hail of arrows. Photographs shot from the helicopter show the near-naked tribesmen rushing to fire. But the downdraught from its rotors exposed the two fisherman buried in shallow graves and not roasted and eaten, as local rumour suggested.

DNA analysis of another tribe, the Jarawa, whose members made first contact with the outside world in 1997, suggest that the tribesmen migrated from Africa around 60,000 years ago.

The Telegraph

The two men were fishing illegally and were also quite possibly drunk, according to reports.

The Sentinelese appear to be under Indian jurisdiction. India appears to be happy to allow them to be entirely autonomous.

Sentinelese people

Edit: I just noticed this is from 2006! It came from today's Telegraph's front page (most Viewed).

Duh. Interesting nonetheless.

Well I guess next time when they are illegally fishing and drinking both against the law.. they will think twice against tresspassing onto some tribes property... Although for them there wont be a next time, but for anyone else.. how about stay off their land and leave them alone..

We should be leaving them alone. How many tribes have we destroyed already?
I would guess these men knew about this tribe, so they should have never gotten that close.

It was cool to read about them though, as I had never heard of them.

During the night their anchor, a rock tied to a rope,...

They should have went to Wal-Mart and got themselves a proper anchor and they would still be alive

This is sure interesting that these hostile, but primitive men even shoot at a loud helecopter.. They must lack any kind of real reasoning abilities, or any higher emotions like empathy.. It is obvious that they would evolve in to what we are like today, shooting and killing each other, and warring against every country except those not on our hit lists..

Sad isn't it..

I am also pretty sure that even stone aged tribes that are still around today wouldn't just kill people for no reason I am pretty sure these idiots judging from their already bad judgement of illegal fishing and driving drunk.. surely they did nothing to provoke them... right.

Edit: I just noticed this is from 2006! It came from today's Telegraph's front page (most Viewed).

Duh. Interesting nonetheless.

edit on 1-2-2013 by ollncasino because: (no reason given)

Must be another boring day at the home office for exotic pieces...

Originally posted by dc4lifeskater

I am also pretty sure that even stone aged tribes that are still around today wouldn't just kill people for no reason

Killing people on contact seems to work for them. It has kept them isolated.

They also appear to have a history of hostility to outsiders.

On 29 March 1970, a research party of Indian anthropologists, which included T. N. Pandit, found themselves cornered on the reef flats between North Sentinel and Constance Island. An eyewitness recorded the following from his vantage point on a boat lying off the beach:

"Quite a few discarded their weapons and gestured to us to throw the fish. The women came out of the shade to watch our antics... A few men came and picked up the fish. They appeared to be gratified, but there did not seem to be much softening to their hostile attitude...

They all began shouting some incomprehensible words. We shouted back and gestured to indicate that we wanted to be friends.

The tension did not ease.

At this moment, a strange thing happened — a woman paired off with a warrior and sat on the sand in a passionate embrace.

This act was being repeated by other women, each claiming a warrior for herself, a sort of community mating, as it were. Thus did the militant group diminish.

This continued for quite some time and when the tempo of this frenzied dance of desire abated, the couples retired into the shade of the jungle. However, some warriors were still on guard.

We got close to the shore and threw some more fish which were immediately retrieved by a few youngsters. It was well past noon and we headed back to the ship.."

Link

The men were very aggressive and hostile until the tension eased when the women individually claimed a warrior and engaged in public mating on the beach.

An interesting people.

Originally posted by dc4lifeskater
Well I guess next time when they are illegally fishing and drinking both against the law.. they will think twice against tresspassing onto some tribes property... Although for them there wont be a next time, but for anyone else.. how about stay off their land and leave them alone..

Well obviously you did not read the article, unless you did not understand it correctly. The fishermen were not consciously trespassing on the island. Their anchor came loose while they were asleep, and they drifted onto the coast of the island. I understand that these people are primitive, but why do they automatically kill anyone who steps foot on their island? They do not even attempt to assess the situation it seems. There have been many other tribes similar to this, who did not behave in such a manner. But, with that said, it probably will work out better for them, but I don't know if they know that.

Very similar to this Brazian tribe only without the murder or drunken fisherman...

Previoulsy undiscovered tribe in Brazil

I know I shouldn’t be but for some reason I find this as funny.

Originally posted by howmuch4another
Very similar to this Brazian tribe only without the murder or drunken fisherman...

Previoulsy undiscovered tribe in Brazil

So you are saying these stories are nothing alike?

Don't go illegally fishing while drunk and you may still be alive......

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein




exactly the same accept for all the differences....

they both are using bows and are mostly naked though ...

How is it hostile? They're protecting what is there's.

If someone comes unannounced into my house is defending myself and my family really hostile?

It's only considered hostile because of they way in which modern societies and governments have programmed the populations.

Exactly how were these tribesmen supposed to know these fisherman, or anyone else who shows up isn't a threat? If these tribesman actually knew about world history they'd have even more of a reason to defend what is there's.

Originally posted by ollncasino
The Sentinelese, thought to number between 50 and 200, have rebuffed all contact with the modern world, firing a shower of arrows at anyone who comes within range.

Awesome! The poor untaxed bastards probably won't last long, but awesome. It thrills me to know that there are still real human beings left on the planet somewhere.

if the indians did things like this then they wouldn't have lost all of their land and most of their people to the now USA and are forced to run casinos and make jewelry to sell on the side of the road to feed themselves..

SO killing anyone on contact that comes to your island since you obviously aren't invited sounds like a pretty smart idea to me.

It's about time we colonised the island Another over seas territory would be nice

reply to post by ollncasino


How odd would it be to arrest any of them...love to see how that trial would proceed...I can't imagine they were killed quickly but I'm hoping they were...

I don't blame them for defending themselves.

We destroy everything that we touch.

A couple of small pox infected blankets and some beads and mirrors should do the trick, always worked in the past. Like the Mek tribe, it isn't going to be long before it's Nike shoes and tee-shirts. I hope they keep firing arrows, whether they know it or not, their life depends on it.