Pictures have been released of a tiny village inhabited by an uncontacted tribe living in isolation in the Brazilian Amazon.

The non-government group which released the images has warned the tribe are threatened by the return of illegal gold miners on their territory.

Survival International said the village - a handful of huts lining a tiny clearing in the rainforest - was inhabited by members of the Yanomami tribe.

"These new pictures emphasise how important the territory is in protecting the Yanomami from goldminers who devastated the tribe in the 1980s," it said in a statement.

Illegal goldmining camps continue to operate just 15 kilometres from Yanomami, according to Survival.

Straddling the northern Brazilian states of Amazonas and Roraima, along the border with Venezuela, the Yanomani territory was officially created in 1992.

The Yanomami suffered years of oppression at the hands of gold miners.

Violence and disease saw their population fall by 20 per cent in just seven years.

With gold prices soaring on the international markets, the gold miners are back in the region.

"Many tribal peoples, including the uncontacted Yanomami, are still threatened by the illegal occupation of their land, so we can't afford to give up the fight," Survival's head Stephen Corry said.

"The very existence of uncontacted Yanomami, however, proves that persistent campaigning pays off."

Arrows fired

The Yanomami group Hutukara, which has a partnership with Survival, said an amateur Yanomami photographer, Morsamiel Iramari, took the pictures of the isolated tribe in Roraima state in March, after a 10-day search and several overflights with a plane provided by the Indigenous National Foundation (Funai).

"Based on the size of the 'malocas' (collective huts) in the pictures, the group appears to comprise 38 people. The elders say they are 'Waripe' Indians (a sub-group of the Yanomami) who took refuge deep in the forest when the Trans-Amazonian road opened in the 1970s," said Hutukura coordinator Ailton da Silva.

He explained that it was decided to look for this group of isolated Yanomami after other Yanomami reported being hit by arrows when they went hunting in the forest.

"The Yanomami (those who do not live in isolation) would go hunt in the forest and would be hit with arrows," said Ailton da Silva, the Hutukara coordinator.

"At first, they thought this was caused by aggressive spirits of the forest."

Mr Da Silva agreed that demarcating indigenous lands was crucial.

"With the creation of the territory, mortality fell and gold miners were kicked out. But they are returning en masse," he said.

In November, at least 800 police and soldiers were sent to the area to expel the gold miners.

"So far about 50 have been booted out but they are hiding in the forest," added Mr da Silva who urged "cutting off the arm which finances them."

According to Funai, there are 77 isolated Indian tribes in Brazil, scattered in the Amazonian states of Acre, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Roraima, Rondonia and Maranhao. Only 30 about of the groups have been located.

Survival International believes there are more than 100 tribes around the world yet to be located.

AFP