Tea Break August: Skinning Tigers, Geometric Reed, and a Grim Collection of Human Bones
New Studies Suggest Extinct Palawan Tiger Populationm Document a Unique Middle Bronze Age Decorated Reed and Uncover a Grim Collection of Human Bones Beneath the University College London
PLATE I. A beautiful tiger. Photo by A G on Unsplash
Tiger paw bones on an island tigers were never supposed to reach, discarded human bones from the University College London's earliest anatomy school, and a mysterious decorated reed from the Middle Bronze Age.
Welcome to the first Tea Break: quick spotlights on studies I came across but didn't cover in full. This month: cut-marked tiger bones tied to ideas of power and personhood, the anonymous dead who taught Victorian medical students, and a fragile reed whose function remains a mystery.
The Tigers of Palawan (My take on the mainstream)
PLATE II. Tiger phalanx. Credit: J. Ochoa
TL;DR: New cut-marked bones suggest tigers once lived on Palawan, hunted or traded for their pelts and maybe linked to ideas of power and personhood.
The rest of this story is brewing for supporters
Most stories here are free and always will be. A few, like this one, are a thank-you to the people who keep the kettle on — from R48 once, or R80 a month. Supporters read everything, and every rand goes into the research and the writing.
