An Ancient Indonesian Tribe Clings to Its Ways

Teu Kapik Sibajak (pictured left) is among the last of the Mentawai people living traditional lives deep in the forest on the remote island of Siberut. The Mentawai tribe, which today numbers around 60,000, is a rare Indonesian culture that was not influenced by Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim currents over the last two millenniums. Instead, their traditions and beliefs strongly resemble those of the original Austronesian settlers who came to this vast archipelago from Taiwan around 4,000 years ago. If the tribe’s culture disappears, one of the last links to Indonesia’s early human inhabitants will go with it.

From “Modern World Tugs At a Tribe Clinging to Its Ancient Ways” by Jon Emont and Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times, 2016; Photo by Sergey Ponomarev

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