Image could explain what happened to man who disappeared while researching cannibal tribe

Explorers have some guts, there's no questioning that. Whether they're venturing into space, cave systems, voyaging the sea, or discovering new land... their duties have helped mankind map the world as we know it.

Michael Rockefeller, the son of former US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, was doing just that when he contacted a tribe of cannibals.

In November 1961, the 23-year-old was on his second expedition of Dutch New Guinea - which is now called West Papua, an Indonesian province on the island of New Guinea - with anthropologist René Wassing, of Netherlands.

They hoped to explore the southwestern part of the country, the Asmat region.

Michael Rockefeller was on his second expedition of Dutch New Guinea when he went missing, never to be seen again (President and Fellows of Harvard University; Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology)

The duo were sailing in a large 40-foot canoe around three miles from the shore when they capsized.

Wassing, who took the voyage in a bid to study the tribesmen, was rescued while floating in the Arafura Sea, but Rockefeller was never seen again - and his disappearance remains a mystery.

Many people believe that he washed up on shore and the cannibalistic Asmat tribe happened upon him. But there are pictures that allude to something entirely different.

In fact, images could explain exactly what happened to Rockefeller after he mysteriously vanished all those years ago.

There have been many theories about the young explorer's wereabouts over the last few decades (Alamy)

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Dozens of naked tribesmen were captured rowing on boats, and in the middle of all these bodies was one naked Caucasian man who resembled Rockefeller.

While many were quick to assume that person was, indeed, Rockefeller - seeing as he had met with the Asmat tribe previously before capsizing - the man who took the recording did not come to the same conclusion.

A sceptical Malcolm Kirk said: "I can’t say I was particularly aware of a light-skinned figure in one of the canoes, but I do recall coming across a reference to an albino male when I glanced through my journal a few weeks ago."

But we aren't going mad - surely not?

Fraser Heston created an entire documentary on Rockefeller's story in 2011, titled The Search for Michael Rockefeller, and it would seem he's on our side of the camp.

Speaking in the documentary, he said: "This shot of a bearded, light-skinned Caucasian paddling in a canoe full of naked Asmat warriors begs more questions than it answers.

"The resemblance to Michael Rockefeller, an accomplished canoeist who wore a beard, is obvious."

Could Rockefeller have survived and settled into life in Asmat?

Carl Hoffman's book Savage Harvest is available to buy here.

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