They don't know what a car, electricity, a hamburger or the United Nations are. They get their food by hunting and fishing, believe that the gods send rain, and do not know how to write or read. They may die from catching a cold or flu. They are a treasure trove for anthropologists and evolutionists, but they are becoming extinct. They are wild tribes that have preserved the way of life of their ancestors and avoid contact with the modern world.

Sometimes the meeting occurs by chance, and sometimes scientists specifically look for them. For example, on Thursday, May 29, in the Amazon jungle near the Brazilian-Peruvian border, several huts were discovered surrounded by people with bows who tried to fire at the expedition plane. In this case, specialists from the Peruvian Center for Indian Tribal Affairs carefully flew around the jungle in search of savage settlements.

Although in lately Scientists rarely describe new tribes: most of them have already been discovered, and there are almost no unexplored places on Earth where they could exist.

Wild tribes live in the territory South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. According to rough estimates, there are about a hundred tribes on Earth that do not or rarely come into contact with the outside world. Many of them prefer to avoid interaction with civilization by any means, so it is quite difficult to keep accurate records of the number of such tribes. On the other hand, tribes that willingly communicate with modern people gradually disappear or lose their identity. Their representatives gradually adopt our way of life or even go away to live “in the big world.”

Another obstacle preventing a full study of tribes is their immune system. "Modern savages" developed for a long time in isolation from the rest of the world. The most common diseases for most people, such as a runny nose or flu, can be fatal for them. The body of savages does not have antibodies against many common infections. When the flu virus strikes a person from Paris or Mexico City, his immune system immediately recognizes the “attacker”, since it has already encountered him before. Even if a person has never had the flu, immune cells “trained” against this virus enter his body from his mother. The savage is practically defenseless against the virus. As long as his body can develop an adequate “response,” the virus may well kill him.

But recently, tribes have been forced to change their usual habitats. Development modern man new territories and deforestation where savages live, forcing them to establish new settlements. If they find themselves close to the settlements of other tribes, conflicts may arise between their representatives. And again, cross-infection with diseases typical for each tribe cannot be ruled out. Not all tribes were able to survive when faced with civilization. But some manage to maintain their numbers at a constant level and not succumb to the temptations of the “big world”.

Be that as it may, anthropologists were able to study the lifestyle of some tribes. Knowledge about their social structure, language, tools, creativity and beliefs helps scientists better understand how human development took place. In fact, every such tribe is a model ancient world, representing possible options evolution of culture and thinking of people.

Piraha

In the Brazilian jungle, in the valley of the Meiki River, lives the Piraha tribe. There are about two hundred people in the tribe, they exist thanks to hunting and gathering and actively resist being introduced into “society”. The Piraha have unique language features. First, there are no words for shades of color. Secondly, the Pirahã language lacks the grammatical structures necessary for the formation of indirect speech. Thirdly, the Pirahã people do not know numerals and the words “more”, “several”, “all” and “every”.

One word, but pronounced with different intonation, serves to designate the numbers “one” and “two”. It can also mean “about one” or “not very many.” Due to the lack of words for numbers, the Pirahã cannot count and cannot solve simple problems. mathematical problems. They are unable to estimate the number of objects if there are more than three. At the same time, the Pirahã show no signs of a decline in intelligence. According to linguists and psychologists, their thinking is artificially limited by the features of language.

The Pirahã have no creation myths, and a strict taboo prohibits them from talking about things that are not part of them. own experience. Despite this, the Pirahã are quite sociable and capable of organized actions in small groups.

Cinta larga

The Sinta Larga tribe also lives in Brazil. Once the number of the tribe exceeded five thousand people, but now it has decreased to one and a half thousand. The minimum social unit of the Sinta Larga is the family: a man, several of his wives and their children. They can move freely from one settlement to another, but more often they establish their own home. The Sinta Larga engage in hunting, fishing and farming. When the land where their home stands becomes less fertile or game leaves the forests, the Sinta Larga move from their place and look for a new site for their home.

Each Sinta Larga has several names. One thing - the “real name” - is kept secret by each member of the tribe; only the closest relatives know it. During their life, Sinta Largas receive several more names depending on their individual characteristics or important events that happened to them. Sinta Larga society is patriarchal and male polygamy is common.

The Sinta Larga have suffered greatly due to contact with the outside world. In the jungle where the tribe lives, there are many rubber trees. Rubber collectors systematically exterminated the Indians, claiming that they were interfering with their work. Later, diamond deposits were discovered in the territory where the tribe lived, and several thousand miners from all over the world rushed to develop the Sinta Larga land, which is illegal. The tribe members themselves also tried to mine diamonds. Conflicts often arose between savages and diamond lovers. In 2004, 29 miners were killed by Sinta Larga people. After that, the government allocated $810,000 to the tribe in exchange for a promise to close the mines, allow police cordons to be placed near them, and not engage in stone mining themselves.

Tribes of Nicobar and Andaman Islands

The Nicobar and Andaman Islands group is located 1,400 kilometers off the coast of India. Six primitive tribes lived in complete isolation on the remote islands: the Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, Shompens, Sentinelese and Negrito. After the devastating 2004 tsunami, many feared the tribes had disappeared forever. However, it later turned out that most of them, to the great joy of anthropologists, were saved.

The tribes of the Nicobar and Andaman Islands are in the Stone Age in their development. Representatives of one of them - the Negritos - are considered the most ancient inhabitants of the planet who have survived to this day. Average height Negrito is about 150 centimeters, and Marco Polo wrote about them as “cannibals with dog faces.”

Korubo

Cannibalism is a fairly common practice among primitive tribes. And although most of them prefer to find other sources of food, some have maintained this tradition. For example, the Korubo, who live in the western part of the Amazon Valley. The Korubo are an extremely aggressive tribe. Hunting and raids on neighboring settlements are their main means of subsistence. Korubo's weapons are heavy clubs and poison darts. The Korubo do not practice religious rites, but they have a widespread practice of killing their own children. Korubo women have equal rights with men.

Cannibals from Papua New Guinea

The most famous cannibals are, perhaps, the tribes of Papua New Guinea and Borneo. The cannibals of Borneo are cruel and indiscriminate: they eat both their enemies and tourists or old people from their tribe. The last surge in cannibalism was noted in Borneo at the end of the last - beginning of this century. This happened when the Indonesian government tried to colonize some areas of the island.

In New Guinea, especially in its eastern part, cases of cannibalism are observed much less frequently. Of the primitive tribes living there, only three - the Yali, Vanuatu and Karafai - still practice cannibalism. The most cruel tribe is the Karafai, and the Yali and Vanuatu eat someone on rare ceremonial occasions or out of necessity. The Yali are also famous for their death festival, when the men and women of the tribe paint themselves as skeletons and try to please Death. Previously, to be sure, they killed a shaman, whose brain was eaten by the leader of the tribe.

Emergency reserve

The dilemma of primitive tribes is that attempts to study them often lead to their destruction. Anthropologists and ordinary travelers find it difficult to refuse the prospect of going to Stone Age. In addition, the habitat modern people is constantly expanding. Primitive tribes managed to carry their way of life through many millennia, however, it seems that in the end the savages will join the list of those who could not stand the meeting with modern man.

Photographer Jimmy Nelson travels the world capturing wild and semi-wild tribes who manage to preserve traditional way of life V modern world. Every year it becomes more and more difficult for these peoples, but they do not give up and do not leave the territories of their ancestors, continuing to live the same way they lived.

Asaro tribe

Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Asaro Mudmen ("Mud-Covered People of the Asaro River") first encountered the Western world in the mid-20th century. Since time immemorial, these people have been smearing themselves with mud and wearing masks to instill fear in other villages.

“Individually they are all very nice, but because their culture is under threat, they are forced to fend for themselves” - Jimmy Nelson.

Chinese fishermen tribe

Location: Guangxi, China. Filmed in 2010. Fishing with a cormorant is one of the oldest methods fishing with the help of waterfowl. To prevent them from swallowing their catch, fishermen tie their necks. Cormorants easily swallow small fish, and bring large ones to their owners.

Maasai

Location: Kenya and Tanzania. Filmed in 2010. This is one of the most famous African tribes. Young Maasai go through a series of rituals to develop responsibility, become men and warriors, learn to protect livestock from predators, and provide security for their families. Thanks to the rituals, ceremonies and instructions of the elders, they grow up to be real brave men.

Livestock are central to Maasai culture.

Nenets

Location: Siberia – Yamal. Filmed in 2011. Traditional activity Nenets - reindeer husbandry. They lead nomadic image life, crossing the Yamal Peninsula. For more than a millennium, they have survived at temperatures as low as minus 50°C. The 1,000 km long annual migration route lies across the frozen Ob River.

“If you don’t drink warm blood and don’t eat fresh meat, then you’re doomed to die in the tundra.”

Korowai

Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Korowai are one of the few Papuan tribes that do not wear kotekas, a type of sheath for the penis. The men of the tribe hide their penises by tightly tying them with leaves along with the scrotum. Korowai are hunter-gatherers who live in tree houses. This people strictly distributes rights and responsibilities between men and women. Their number is estimated at approximately 3,000 people. Until the 1970s, the Korowai were convinced that there were no other peoples in the world.

Yali tribe

Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Yali live in the virgin forests of the highlands and are officially recognized as pygmies, since the men are only 150 centimeters tall. The koteka (gourd sheath for the penis) is part of the traditional clothing. It can be used to determine whether a person belongs to a tribe. Yali prefer long thin cats.

Karo tribe

Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. The Omo Valley, located in Africa's Great Rift Valley, is home to approximately 200,000 indigenous peoples who have inhabited it for thousands of years.

Here, tribes have traded among themselves since ancient times, offering each other beads, food, cattle and fabrics. Not long ago, guns and ammunition came into circulation.

Dasanech tribe

Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. This tribe is characterized by the absence of a strictly defined ethnicity. A person of almost any background can be admitted to Dasanech.

Guarani

Location: Argentina and Ecuador. Filmed in 2011. For thousands of years, the Amazonian rainforests of Ecuador were home to the Guaraní people. They consider themselves the bravest indigenous group in the Amazon.

Vanuatu tribe

Location: Ra Lava Island (Banks Islands Group), Torba Province. Filmed in 2011. Many Vanuatu people believe that wealth can be achieved through ceremonies. Dance is an important part of their culture, which is why many villages have dance floors called nasara.

Ladakhi tribe

Location: India. Filmed in 2012. Ladakhis share the beliefs of their Tibetan neighbors. Tibetan Buddhism, mixed with images of ferocious demons from the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, has underpinned Ladakhi beliefs for over a thousand years. The people live in the Indus Valley, engage mainly in agriculture, and practice polyandry.

Mursi tribe

Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. “It is better to die than to live without killing.” Mursi are pastoralists, farmers and successful warriors. Men are distinguished by horseshoe-shaped scars on their bodies. Women also practice scarring and also insert a plate into the lower lip.

Rabari tribe

Location: India. Filmed in 2012. 1000 years ago, representatives of the Rabari tribe were already roaming the deserts and plains that today belong to Western India. Women of this people devote long hours to embroidery. They also manage the farms and decide all financial issues, while the men tend the herds.

Samburu tribe

Location: Kenya and Tanzania. Filmed in 2010. The Samburu are a semi-nomadic people, moving from place to place every 5-6 weeks to provide pasture for their livestock. They are independent and much more traditional than the Maasai. Equality reigns in Samburu society.

Mustang tribe

Location: Nepal. Filmed in 2011. Most of the Mustang people still believe that the world is flat. They are very religious. Prayers and holidays are an integral part of their lives. The tribe stands apart as one of the last strongholds of Tibetan culture that has survived to this day. Until 1991, they did not allow any outsiders into their midst.

Maori tribe

Location: New Zealand. Filmed in 2011. Maori are adherents of polytheism and worship many gods, goddesses and spirits. They believe that the spirits of ancestors and supernatural beings omnipresent and help the tribe in difficult times. The Maori myths and legends that arose in ancient times reflected their ideas about the creation of the Universe, the origin of gods and people.

“My tongue is my awakening, my tongue is the window of my soul.”

Goroka tribe

Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2011. Life in high mountain villages is simple. Residents have plenty of food, families are friendly, people honor the wonders of nature. They live by hunting, gathering and growing crops. Internecine clashes are common here. To intimidate the enemy, Goroka warriors use war paint and jewelry.

“Knowledge is just rumors while they are in the muscles.”

Huli tribe

Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. These indigenous people fight for land, pigs and women. They also spend a lot of effort trying to impress their opponent. Huli paint their faces with yellow, red and white paints, and also have a famous tradition of making fancy wigs from their own hair.

Himba tribe

Location: Namibia. Filmed in 2011. Each member of the tribe belongs to two clans, father and mother. Marriages are arranged for the purpose of expanding wealth. Appearance is vital here. It talks about a person's place within a group and their phase of life. The elder is responsible for the rules in the group.

Kazakh tribe

Location: Mongolia. Filmed in 2011. Kazakh nomads are descendants of the Turkic, Mongolian, Indo-Iranian group and the Huns, who inhabited the territory of Eurasia from Siberia to the Black Sea.

The ancient art of eagle hunting is one of the traditions that the Kazakhs have managed to preserve to this day. They trust their clan, count on their herds, believe in the pre-Islamic cult of the sky, ancestors, fire and supernatural powers good and evil spirits.

The people who will be discussed in this article manage to ignore the civilized world and live as if there had never been anyone else in the whole world besides them...

The Sentinelese tribe settled on North Sentinel Island, which is nominally part of India. These people are usually called the same as the island, because no one has any idea what these people call themselves.

In truth, nothing else is really known about them either. After a terrible tsunami hit the island in 2004, several helicopters were sent there to take photographs and make sure that the island was still inhabited.

How did they manage to avoid contact with modern civilization for so long?

This can be explained very simply. Take a look at this photo taken from a helicopter:

The rest of the tribe members are also aggressive. They don’t make contact, and as soon as they do, they immediately grab their bow and arrows.

In 2006, a boat with two fishermen was carried by the current into shallow waters near the island. The Sentinelese killed them and buried them on the shore. The helicopters identified the burial place of the unfortunates, but were unable to land, because at the sight of the helicopter, the local population, as you may have already noticed, immediately “opened fire.” Despite the fact that the natives obviously have no idea what a helicopter is, they persistently tried to reach the strange giant iron bird with their arrows. Well, they don’t like guests and that’s all.

The police, who in theory should go and pick up the bodies of the unfortunate fishermen, flatly refuse to do this, declaring that as soon as they approach the island, they will immediately be bombarded with poisoned darts and arrows - which, in general, can be considered a good reason.

Even our ancestors, who were more courageous than you and me, believed that getting involved with these unsociable people would cost themselves more: Marco Polo described them as “the most cruel and bloodthirsty people, always ready to grab and eat anyone who falls into their hands.”

In other words, for hundreds of years, when the whole world was busy conquering each other's lands, these guys earned such a bad reputation that they discouraged all sorts of conquerors from going there. In the end, all of “progressive humanity” decided to leave these crazy cannibals alone.

2. Korowai

This tribe lives in southeastern Papua. They first learned about the existence of other people in the 1970s, when they were discovered by a group of archaeologists and missionaries. At this time, they still used stone tools and built their dwellings in trees. However, since then, nothing has changed for them, one might say.

All guests from the civilized world of the Korowai are told that if ever one of them changes their traditions, then the entire Earth will inevitably perish from a monstrous earthquake. It’s not clear whether this is such devotion to tradition, or just a way to get rid of the smart guys from the “mainland” who are always trying to teach them about life.

Be that as it may, they manage to remain in their previous state simply excellent. The missionaries came around a couple of times with their enlightenment, but then decided to leave them alone. What if, who knows, the earthquake isn’t completely nonsense after all?

The Korowai live in such an impenetrable area, literally behind high mountains and dark forests, that even their own villages have virtually no contact with each other, let alone the outside world. When the census service decided to visit the tribe in 2010, they had to travel for two weeks on foot and then by boat from the nearest (and in fact very remote) villages.

The Korowai do not particularly show that they do not like outside visits. And in order for the uninvited guests to get away as quickly as possible, they come up with all sorts of tricks. In addition to scaring people with a terrible, terrible earthquake, which will definitely happen as soon as the first Korowai puts on his pants, they love to scare people by talking about their bloodthirsty traditions.

But the Australian newsmakers who approached the Korowais in 2006 were fooled in the most elegant way. The tribe sent a boy to the annoying strangers, who told reporters a heartbreaking story about how cannibals were chasing him, and that at the next meal he should become the main dish of the tribe.

After the story was taped and film crew hastily retreated, the next journalists arrived, for whom exactly the same performance was staged with the rescue of the “poor boy”.

Scientists who have studied the tribe assure that these people simply have a good sense of humor and that there is no smell of cannibalism here. Just funny people who live in trees and love pranks.

3. The loneliest man in the world

This man has been living in complete isolation in the Brazilian forest for at least fifteen years.

He builds himself palm huts and digs rectangular holes one and a half meters deep in the ground. Why he needs these holes can only be guessed, because with any attempt to establish contact, he abandons his familiar place and finds a new one in order to build exactly the same hut and dig exactly the same hole.

No one in the area is building anything like this, from which scientists have concluded that this is the last surviving representative of some disappeared tribe.

How has he managed to ignore the modern world for so long?

In 1988, the new Brazilian Constitution granted local Indians rights to their ancestral lands. In theory, the idea seemed simply wonderful. But in practice... When, according to the law, it became prohibited for tribes to be “forced to relocate” to other places, they began to simply be exterminated.

Apparently, this is precisely the fate that befell our hero’s fellow tribesmen: his first meeting with the modern world ended for him with the death of everyone he knew. Who wants to make contact with monsters who have come up with the perfect tools to destroy your family and friends?

4. Old Believers

In 1978, Soviet geologists searching for iron ore deposits in remote parts of Siberia stumbled upon a log cabin. The family that lived there had no idea about the existence of civilization; they dressed in matting and ate from homemade dishes. When they saw the members of the expedition, they were horrified and began shouting something like “This is all for our sins!”

Later it turned out that the Lykov family (as they called themselves) were not the only Siberian hermits. A similar group of people lived in the taiga in complete isolation, at least, until 1990.

All these people turned out to be Old Believers. In the 17th century, during the schism of the Russian church, they fled from the massacre and settled away from the outside world. And they lived like this for several centuries. Siberia is too vast and inhospitable - no one would think of combing it to find a couple of dozen fugitives.

Agafya Lykova, 2009

5. Tribe Mashko-Piro

People from the Mashco-Piro tribe, half naked and generally looking like settlers from the prehistoric era, recently began to appear in the area of ​​one of the Peruvian rivers popular with Western tourists.

Previously, any attempts to approach them were stopped by a hail of burning arrows. No one knows why they suddenly decided to discover their existence on their own. According to the assurances of specialists who have been in contact with them, for now their keenest interest is mainly in metal pots for cooking and machete knives.

How did they manage to stay away from civilization for so long?

The Peruvian government itself tried to limit contacts with the tribe and prohibited tourists from going ashore near the habitats of savages. The idea was to protect these people from annoying anthropologists and greedy businessmen who are ready to make money on anything.

Unfortunately, there were and are still cunning private travel companies offering clients “human safari”.

6. Pintubi Aboriginals

In 1984, a small group of people from the Pintubi tribe met a white man in the desert. There would be nothing unusual in this, except for the fact that not a single person from this tribe had ever seen one before white man, and that the first white settlers arrived in Australia in 1788. Later, one of the Pintubi explained that at first he mistook the “pink man” for an evil spirit. The first meeting did not go very smoothly, but then the natives softened and decided that the “pink ones” might even be useful.

Needless to say, they were very lucky to be found so late. They wandered through the deserts all those years when it was easy to fall into slavery or straight to the next world, and met Western culture exactly when she was already ready to take them for a ride in a jeep and treat them to Coca-Cola.

How did they manage to avoid civilization for so long?

There are two reasons for this: 1) they are nomads and 2) they roam the deserts of Australia, where it is generally quite difficult to meet people.

This group might never have been discovered at all. Shortly before their first meeting with the white man, the Pintubi accidentally met with the “civilized” aborigines. Unfortunately, the appearance of the nomads with loincloths made of human hair and two-meter spears was too exotic even for indigenous Australians. One of the “civilized” ones fired into the air and the Pintubi ran away.

Do you dream of visiting national parks Africa, see wild animals in their natural habitat and enjoy the last untouched corners of our planet? Safari in Tanzania is an unforgettable journey through the African savannah!

The main part of the peoples of Africa includes groups consisting of several thousand and sometimes hundreds of people, but at the same time - does not exceed 10% of total number population of this continent. As a rule, such small ethnic groups are the most savage tribes.

The Mursi tribe, for example, belongs to this group.

The Ethiopian Mursi tribe is the most aggressive ethnic group

Ethiopia - ancient country in the world. It is Ethiopia that is considered the ancestor of humanity; it was here that the remains of our ancestor, modestly named Lucy, were found.
More than 80 ethnic groups live in the country.

Living in southwestern Ethiopia, on the border with Kenya and Sudan, settled in Mago Park, the Mursi tribe is distinguished by unusually strict customs. They can rightfully be nominated for the title of the most aggressive ethnic group.

Prone to frequent alcohol consumption and uncontrolled use of weapons. IN everyday life The main weapon of the tribe's men is the Kalashnikov assault rifle, which they buy in Sudan.

In fights, they can often beat each other almost to the point of near-death state, trying to prove his dominance in the tribe.

Scientists attribute this tribe to a mutated Negroid race, with distinctive features in the form of short stature, broad bone and crooked legs, low and tightly compressed foreheads, flattened noses and inflated short necks.

Mursi women's bodies often look flabby and sickly, with sagging bellies and breasts, and hunched backs. There is practically no hair, which is often hidden under intricate headdresses of a very fancy type, using as material everything that can be picked up or caught nearby: rough skins, branches, dried fruits, swamp shellfish, someone's tails, dead insects and even incomprehensible stinking carrion.

Most famous feature The Mursi tribe has a tradition of inserting plates into the lips of girls.

The more public Mursi who come into contact with civilization may not always have all these characteristic attributes, but the exotic appearance of their lower lip is business card tribe.

The plates are made of wood or clay in different sizes; the shape can be round or trapezoidal, sometimes with a hole in the middle. For beauty, the plates are covered with a pattern.

The lower lip is cut in childhood, and pieces of wood are inserted there, gradually increasing their diameter.

Mursi girls begin wearing plates at the age of 20, six months before marriage. The lower lip is pierced and a small disc is inserted into it; after the lip is stretched, the disc is replaced with a larger one, and so on until the required diameter is reached (up to 30 centimeters!!).

The size of the plate matters: the larger the diameter, the more the girl is valued and the more cattle the groom will pay for her. Girls must wear these plates at all times except when sleeping and eating, and they can also take them out if there are no males of the tribe nearby.

When the plate is pulled out, the lip hangs down in a long, round rope. Almost all Mursi have no front teeth, and their tongue is cracked and bleeding.

The second strange and terrifying decoration of Mursi women is the monista, which is made from human phalanges of fingers (nek). One person has only 28 of these bones in his hands. Each necklace usually consists of phalanges of five or six tassels; for some lovers of “costume jewelry,” the monista is wrapped around the neck in several rows

It glistens greasyly and emits a sweetish rotting smell of melted human fat; every bone is rubbed daily. The source for beads never runs low: the priestess of the tribe is ready to deprive the hands of a man who has broken the laws for almost every offense.

It is customary for this tribe to do scarification (scarring).

Men can afford scarring only after the first murder of one of their enemies or ill-wishers. If they kill a man, they decorate right hand, if a woman, then the left one.

Their religion, animism, deserves a longer and more shocking story.
Short: women are priestesses of death, so they give their husbands daily narcotic substances and poisons.

The High Priestess distributes antidotes, but sometimes salvation does not come to everyone. In such cases, a white cross is drawn on the widow's plate, and she becomes a very respected member of the tribe, who is not eaten after death, but is buried in the trunks of special ritual trees. Honor is due to such priestesses due to the fulfillment of the main mission - the will of the God of Death Yamda, which they were able to fulfill by destroying the physical body and freeing the highest spiritual Essence from their man.

The rest of the dead will be collectively eaten by the entire tribe. Soft tissues are boiled in a cauldron, bones are used for amulets and thrown in swamps to mark dangerous places.

What seems very wild for a European is commonplace and tradition for the Mursi.

Bushmen tribe

African Bushmen are the most ancient representatives human race. And this is not speculation at all, but a scientifically proven fact. Who are these ancient people?

Bushmen are a group of hunting tribes South Africa. Now these are the remains of a large ancient African population. Bushmen are distinguished by their short stature, wide cheekbones, narrow eyes and much swollen eyelids. It is difficult to determine the real color of their skin, because in the Kalahari they are not allowed to waste water on washing. But you can notice that they are much lighter than their neighbors. Their skin tone is slightly yellowish, which is more common among South Asians.

Young Bushmen are considered the most beautiful among the female population of Africa.

But once they reach puberty and become mothers, these beauties are simply unrecognizable. Bushmen women have overdeveloped hips and buttocks, and their stomachs are constantly swollen. This is a consequence of poor nutrition.

To distinguish a pregnant Bushwoman from other women of the tribe, she is coated with ash or ocher, since appearance this is very difficult to do. By the age of 35, Bushman men begin to look like octogenarians, due to the fact that their skin sagging and their bodies become covered with deep wrinkles.

Life in Kalahari is very harsh, but even here there are laws and rules. The most important resource in the desert is water. There are old people in the tribe who know how to find water. At the place that they indicate, the representatives of the tribe either dig wells or drain water using plant stems.

Each Bushman tribe has a secret well, which is carefully blocked with stones or covered with sand. During the dry season, the Bushmen dig a hole at the bottom of a dry well, take a plant stem, suck water through it, take it into their mouths, and then spit it into the shell of an ostrich egg.

South African Bushman tribe the only people on Earth, where men have a constant erection, This phenomenon does not cause any unpleasant sensations or inconveniences, except for the fact that while hunting on foot, men have to attach the penis to the belt so as not to cling to branches.

Bushmen don't know what it is private property. All animals and plants growing in their territory are considered common. Therefore, they hunt both wild animals and farm cows. For this they were very often punished and destroyed by entire tribes. Nobody wants neighbors like this.

Shamanism is very popular among the Bushmen tribes. They do not have leaders, but there are elders and healers who not only treat diseases, but also communicate with spirits. Bushmen are very afraid of the dead, and firmly believe in afterlife. They pray to the sun, moon, stars. But they are not asking for health or happiness, but for success in hunting.

The Bushman tribes speak Khoisan languages, which are very difficult for Europeans to pronounce. Characteristic feature these languages ​​have click consonants. Representatives of the tribe speak very quietly among themselves. This is a long-standing habit of hunters - so as not to spook the game.

There is confirmed evidence that a hundred years ago they were engaged in drawing. They are still found in caves rock paintings, depicting people and various animals: buffaloes, gazelles, birds, ostriches, antelopes, crocodiles.

Their drawings also contain unusual fairy tale characters: monkey people, eared snakes, crocodile-faced people. There is an entire open-air gallery in the desert that displays these amazing drawings by unknown artists.

But now the Bushmen do not paint; they are excellent in dance, music, pantomime and stories.

VIDEO: Shamanic ritual healing ritual of the Bushmen tribe. Part 1

Shamanic ritual healing rite of the Bushmen tribe. Part 2

Despite the fact that today almost every person has the opportunity to use the money they earn to purchase the attributes of modern life, such as mobile phone, there are still places on our planet where people live in levels of development close to primitive ones.

Africa is the place on Earth where today in impenetrable jungles or deserts you can find creatures that are very reminiscent of us in the distant past. Scientists agree that it was from the African continent that Homo sapiens originated.

Africa is unique in itself. Not only common animal species are concentrated here, but also endangered species. Due to its direct location on the equator, the continent has a very hot climate, which is why the nature there is the most diverse. That is why there were conditions for preserving life in the form in which wild tribes remained

A striking example of such a tribe is wild tribe Himba. They live in Namibia. Everything that civilization has achieved has passed the Himba by. There is no hint of modern life. The tribe is engaged in cattle breeding. All the huts where the tribe members live are located around the pasture.

The beauty of tribal women is determined by the presence large number jewelry and the amount of clay applied to the skin. But the presence of clay is not only a ritual, but also serves a hygienic purpose. The scorching sun and constant lack of water are just a few of the difficulties. The presence of clay allows the skin not to be subjected to thermal burns and the skin gives off less water.

Women in the tribe are involved in all household activities. They care for livestock, build huts, raise children and make jewelry. This is the main entertainment in the tribe.

Men in the tribe are assigned the role of husbands. Polygamy is accepted in the tribe if the husband is able to feed the family. Marriage is an expensive business. The cost of a wife reaches 45 cows. A wife's fidelity is not obligatory. A child born from another father will remain in the family.

Tourist guides often contact the tribe to conduct excursions. For this, the savages receive souvenirs and money, which they then exchange for things.

In the north-west of Mexico lives another tribe that has been bypassed by civilization. It is called Tarahyumara. They are also called “beer people.” The name stuck to them due to their ritual of drinking maize beer. Beating the drums, they drink beer, which is mixed with narcotic herbs. True, there is another translation option: “running soles” or “those with light feet.” And it is also well deserved, but more on that later.

They paint their bodies bright colors. You can imagine what it looks like when you realize that the tribe numbers 60 thousand people.

Since the 17th century, savages learned to cultivate the land and began to grow cereals. Before this, the tribe ate roots and herbs.

Video: The Tarahumara - A Hidden Tribe of Superathletes Born to Run. The Indians of this tribe are considered the best runners, but not in speed, but in endurance. They can run 170 km without any problems. without stopping. There is a recorded case of an Indian running a distance of about 600 miles in five days.

In the Philippine archipelago there is the island of Palawan. The Taut Batu tribe lives there in the mountains. These are the people of mountain caves. They live in caves and grottoes. The tribe has existed since the 11th century and human achievements are unknown to them. By the way, the Puerto Princesa underground river is also located here.

When the monsoon rains don't come, which can happen for six months, the tribe grows potatoes and rice. This is the only time when members of the tribe get out of the caves. When the rains begin to fall again, the entire tribe climbs into their grottoes and simply sleeps, waking up only to eat.

Video: Philippines, Palawan, Tau't Batu or "people of the rocks."

The list of tribes goes on and on. But that doesn't matter anymore. You just have to remember that somewhere on Earth there are places where life has frozen in its development, allowing others to develop further. Looking at wild tribes, at their customs, dances, rituals, you understand that they don’t want to change anything. They lived like this for thousands of years before they were discovered and, apparently, plan to exist for just as long.

Films, a small selection.

Hunting for survival (Kill to survive) / Kill To Survive. (From the series: In Search of the Hunter Tribes)

There are also series: Keepers of Traditions; Sharp-toothed nomads; Hunting in the Kalahari;

Even more interesting series, about people’s lives in harmony with nature - Human Planet.

Also, there is one interesting program like the Magic of Adventure. Presenter: Sergey Yastrzhembsky.

For example, one of the series. Adventure Magic: The Man in the Tree.