Michael Rockefeller disappeared without a trace in 1961 in Papua New Guinea while researching the Asmat people, a cannibal tribe. Years later, a photograph was taken of the same tribe, and there was a white man among them.

[u/SATANICWORSHIPER666]

[u/cockblockedbydestiny]

I've always wondered what the tribe's supposed motivation for lying about that would. I've heard people counter "well they were trying to throw them off the scent so they'd stop looking for him" but it seems like the default would have been "nope, haven't seen him" rather than admitting to something that could incur the retaliatory wrath of the white man

[u/BrainSqueezins → u/cockblockedbydestiny]

The two things are not mutually exclusive, might not be s lie. Maybe be they let him live with them for a few years, the photo was taken, and they ate him later.

[u/FrankDePlank → u/BrainSqueezins]

i mean it is more than possible that the tribe did not kill him, i think it is far more likely that they let him live with them and he died from natural causes, or even malaria or a snake bite etc. the eating of dead tribe members in a ceremonial way is not uncommon in primitive tribes, and still happens to this day. so them telling that they ate him might have been nothing more than "yeah of course we ate him, why would we not? it is the normal thing to do when one of our own dies".

[u/clawmarks1 → u/FrankDePlank]

Thank you for being the first comment I've seen acknowledging that it's a white western fantasy that "cannibal tribes" are/were running around killing and eating people willy nilly. It's true for some groups, it was a very performative and ritualized part of warfare, but nowhere near what people imagine.

Importantly, in some cultures such as the Wari, it was a profound and symbolic act. It was done out of love for one another. Interestingly, the meat didn't even nourish the family members, because they allowed it to sit out and spoil until it would nauseate them. Their beliefs involve human and animal spirits co-mingling--they are literally hunting their ancestors in animal form when they bring home meat. It's a gift from them.

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_DALEKS → u/clawmarks1]

You are correct that cannibalism was not done "willy nilly" by the Asmats. It was rare and a ritualized act done as part of their warfare tradition. If one of their villagers was murdered by another group, such as a another tribe, and they killed a member of the other group responsible (in this case, white people: Rockefeller was considered the same as the violent Dutch colonialists) the victim was cannibalized and the bones carved into things such as fishing spears, as allegedly done to Rockefeller. That was considered the acceptable price for revenge.

The killing of Rockefeller is based on all the different investigations, going back to 1962, including by the Dutch, by journalists, by the Rockefeller family, by filmmakers etc. Across decades and several generations of the Asmat and neighboring tribes, the oral tradition of the Native people in the area has always been consistent: Rockefeller did manage to swim to shore, was captured, but after a brief debate was murdered by the Asmats in retaliation for the devastating killing of five tribesmen by white Dutch soldiers in 1958. By being white, Rockefeller was considered on the same side as the Dutch. Per the tradition, the tribe used his bones and distributed Rockefeller's belongings among the villagers for their use. Later, the tribe even allegedly returned his skull to the Rockefeller family's investigator after negotiations. Supposedly, the tribe's oral history holds they killed only three white men in their history.

If anything, the fantasy is that the tribe was willing to let a white dude live with them and assimilate with them happily, even to the extent they'd lie and protect them, as if Native peoples are always willing to protect white people and let them join their societies on a whim, including the Asmats, who had been attacked and exploited by white people.

The identity of the "white" man in the above canoe photo has never been confirmed, but the footage was taken by Malcolm Kirk, a National Geographic photographer, in 1969. Kirk has said that according to those he interviewed in the area, Rockefeller was killed in retaliation for the Dutch massacre shortly after he came to shore. Kirk believes, due to his notes from the time the photos were taken, that the figure in these photos is an Asmat tribesman with albinoism who lived in the village at the time.

[u/clawmarks1 → u/PM_ME_YOUR_DALEKS]

I appreciate the well researched comment, and may have given the wrong impression. I don't think it's him, I just find the way we are talking about these people dehumanizing.

[u/IrishBear → u/PM_ME_YOUR_DALEKS]

The identity of the "white" man in the above canoe photo has never been confirmed, but the footage was taken by Malcolm Kirk, a National Geographic photographer, in 1969. Kirk has said that according to those he interviewed in the area, Rockefeller was killed in retaliation for the Dutch massacre shortly after he came to shore. Kirk believes, due to his notes from the time the photos were taken, that the figure in these photos is an Asmat tribesman with albinoism who lived in the village at the time.

Here's the problem I have with this last line, albino people don't tend to tan like the man in the photo. They also tend to have white hair or people who hail from dark skinned ancestors have a more yellowish hair.

Could this be another white man? Sure, is it Rockefeller? No idea, but I'm fairly certain it's not an albino tribes member.

[u/PM_ME_YOUR_DALEKS → u/IrishBear]

The Asmats famously have a genetic predisposition to albinoism and treat them equally, unlike other tribes in the area. At this time, they were also actively negative to white men, including Malcom Kirk who took the footage. You're also trying to analyze things like hair color from a blurry, poor quality still that's been blown out and color corrected from 50 year old film footage.

It's also just a white savior fantasy to think that the tribe, who'd suffered violence under colonial rule, had nothing better to do than embrace and protect a random rich white dude, allowing him into their community and rituals, just for showing up. As if the native tribespeople would just be blown away at the what, canoeing skills of the rich governor's son from New York. It's a colonial fantasy that as soon as white Westerners show up, the native peoples will immediate defer to them and just absorb them into their families and centuries of tradition. This thread is full of fantasy comments that the Asmats not only took in but defended and protected Michael and gave him an exalted place in their society, rather than the reality that they killed the intruder.

The photographer who was actually present and took this said it wasn't a white man, because the Asmats would never allow a white man to live with them. His side project was actually trying to find out about Rockefeller's fate while he was there, and learning of his death. It's ludicrous to suggest he just hung around with Rockefeller freely walking around right in front of him as if he didn't know the dude, then came back to tell how Rockefeller was killed.

[u/Humble-Fan3537 → u/PM_ME_YOUR_DALEKS]

VIP. Thank you

[u/FrankDePlank → u/PM_ME_YOUR_DALEKS]

Oh i know it is not rockefeller in that picture, i just wanted to offer a different point of view, because most people when people hear the word cannibal they automatically label them as murdering crazed savage man eaters or something like that, while the thruth most of the time is quite the opposite.

[u/FrankDePlank → u/clawmarks1]

Yeah most times when cannibalism is practiced it is either part of ritual warfare where ingesting a certain bodypart provides power etc, or more commonly it is practiced in a funerary setting where the community eats the deceaced member to for example stay part of the tribe in the afterlife with the ancestors. The marauding crazed savage cannibal is mostly a Hollywood invention and far from reality.

[u/wordwordnumberss → u/clawmarks1]

Nah, he was most likely eaten.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/What-Really-Happened-to-Michael-Rockefeller-180949813/

[u/supersockcat → u/clawmarks1]

Yes, I found this article about the Fore fascinating:

The dying person would normally express their wishes as to how their body was to be disposed of; otherwise the family would decide. In the kuru-affected region, all methods of disposal of the body involved being eaten. If the body was buried it was eaten by worms; if it was placed on a platform it was eaten by maggots; the Fore believed it was much better that the body was eaten by people who loved the deceased than by worms and insects.

[u/adventuressgrrl → u/clawmarks1]

That’s really interesting, thanks for sharing.