# 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*

By Sandee Oster · Published 31 August 2026

Source: https://archaeologyteahouse.com/stories/tea-break-august-skinning-tigers-geometric-reed-and-a-grim-collection-of-human-bones

Sources:
- [A Decorated Middle Bronze Age Reed from Wadi Murabbaʿat](https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2026.2620264)
- [Halimaw na/ng nakalipas\*: Power, Personhood, and the Tigers of Palawan Island, Philippines](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774326100638)
- [Human dissection and comparative anatomy: Archaeological evidence for nineteenth-century anatomical practice at University College London](https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.70220)

Subjects: [Palawan](https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1061269), [Wadi Murabba'at](https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2906907), [University College London](https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q193196)

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![a g YuQgNYku1M8 unsplash](https://archaeologyteahouse.com/media/01a0138f-0b6d-7666-bf84-a67800beedb0/1600.webp)

*A beautiful tiger. Photo by [A G](https://unsplash.com/@agord70345203222008?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-and-black-tiger-on-focus-photography-YuQgNYku1M8?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText) *

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*)

![Tiger bone 1](https://archaeologyteahouse.com/media/01a0138d-6601-736d-8f73-ad35adaa6f98/480.webp)

*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.**

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**This is a preview.** The rest of this story is available to supporters of Archaeology Teahouse. Read the full piece at https://archaeologyteahouse.com/stories/tea-break-august-skinning-tigers-geometric-reed-and-a-grim-collection-of-human-bones.