[2] Typical to Upper Xingu tribes, the Yawalapiti village is circular in shape and has communal houses surrounding a square (uikúka) cleared of vegetation.

It is in this house, or at river banks nearby, that the men congregate to talk in the twilight and where they paint themselves for ceremonies.

The first historical contact between the Yawalapiti and Europeans occurred in 1887, when they had been visited by Karl von den Steinen's expedition.

In this period, they were located in the high course of the Tuatuari river, in a region between lagoons and quagmires identified by the Yawalapiti as a small farm.

The German anthropologist's impression of these Indians was that of poverty, a people who had insufficient food to offer visitors.