The iron is sharpened and used to tip their arrows.įrom what can be seen from a distance, the Sentinelese islanders are clearly extremely healthy and thriving, in marked contrast to the Great Andamanese tribes to whom the British attempted to bring ‘civilization’. For instance, they now use metal which has been washed up or which they have recovered from shipwrecks on the island reefs. Their ways of life will have changed and adapted many times, like all peoples. There is no reason to believe the Sentinelese have been living in the same way for the tens of thousands of years they are likely to have been in the Andamans. © Survival InternationalĪlthough commonly described in the media as ‘Stone Age’ this is clearly not true. The Sentinelese enjoy excellent health, unlike those Andamans tribes whose lands have been destroyed. The men also wear necklaces and headbands, but with a thicker waist belt. The women wear fibre strings tied around their waists, necks and heads. They have two different types of houses large communal huts with several hearths for a number of families, and more temporary shelters, with no sides, which can sometimes be seen on the beach, with space for one nuclear family. It is thought that the Sentinelese live in three small bands. These can only be used in shallow waters as they are steered and propelled with a pole like a punt. Unlike the neighbouring Jarawa tribe, they make boats – these are very narrow outrigger canoes, described as ‘too narrow to fit two feet in’.
The Sentinelese hunt and gather in the forest, and fish in the coastal waters. Even what they call themselves is unknown. Most of what is known about the Sentinelese has been gathered by viewing them from boats moored more than an arrows distance from the shore and a few brief periods where the Sentinelese allowed the authorities to get close enough to hand over some coconuts. North Sentinel Island, home of the Sentinelese, as seen from above. Survival International is the only organization fighting worldwide to stop the extermination of uncontacted tribes like the Sentinelese
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