For more than 20 years he lived alone in the Brazilian Amazon, eating nuts, fruit and game – a symbol of the struggle of the indigenous people who live isolated in the rainforest.

Now that man, whose name was unknown, is dead and his death made headlines around the world.

His life was marked by massacres that left him the sole survivor of a small tribe attacked by gunmen apparently hired by ranchers intent on exploiting the pristine Amazon.

He was found dead in a hammock on August 23 in Tanaru indigenous territory. Authorities found no sign of violence and believe he died of natural causes.

The man was covered in glowing feathers from a bird called a guacamaya, a type of macaw, local news reports said.

The Tanaru indigenous territory covers 8,000 hectares (30 square miles) of protected rainforest in the southwestern Brazilian state of Rondonia, which borders Bolivia. The reserve is surrounded by extensive cattle ranches.

Filled with rogue miners and loggers whose work is illegal, it is one of the most dangerous regions in Brazil, according to Survival International NGP.

Tanaru country “is like a green oasis in the sea of ??destruction,” said NGO director Fiona Watson.

The “Man of the Hole” was first discovered in 1996 by a documentary team traveling with officials from the National Indian Foundation, a government agency investigating a massacre of his tribe.

Proof of the presence of tribal peoples in the Tanaru forest area was necessary to grant legal protection to the area.

The footage was featured in a 2009 documentary entitled Corumbiara.

In it, the man’s eyes can be seen looking out of a straw hut. At one point a spear sticks out as if to scare off visitors. But nobody says a word.

Over the years, Funai teams came back with representatives from neighboring tribes to find out what language the man spoke and learn more about his people.

But he made it clear he didn’t want to hire anyone. Once, feeling threatened, he fired an arrow that severely injured a visiting team member.

“One can only imagine what this man was thinking, going through, living alone, unable to speak to anyone and I think he was very frightened because any outsider was a threat to him given his horrific experience.” said Watson.

After that, authorities attempted to patrol his territory, looking for signs that he was still alive.

In the last known living footage of him – recorded in 2011 but not released until seven years later – he is seen half-naked chopping down a tree with an axe.

In addition to a bow and arrow showing that he hunted, there were gardens where he grew fruits and vegetables such as papaya and cassava.

“We saw one of his gardens and it was full of produce – very nicely tended,” said Watson, who visited the site in 2005.

But what most intrigued researchers were the many holes he dug — about two meters (seven feet) deep and with sharp spears at the bottom.

According to Funai, officials found 53 sites that had been his home in Tanaru territory, all with the same structure: a small thatched hut with a door and a hole.

The holes were used to trap animals, but experts believe they were also a place to hide from intruders or had a spiritual purpose.

The holes, Watson said, were “a mystery that died with him,” as was the history of the Tanaru.

Funai has identified 114 indigenous groups living in isolation in the Brazilian part of the Amazon.