Notgrava n o ee excavate Josepy b d h Bank t d Georga an sw eLo Skaillinl772 by Averil M Lysaght The first detailed account of any of the prehistoric burial mounds that used to be a feature of the Links of Skaill, Sandwick, Orkney (NGR HY 238192), was published in Archaeologia III, 1773. It was based on a letter from the Reverend George Low, an ecclesiastical naturalist 286 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1971-2 livin t Stromnesga searnins wherwa livins e tutora gh ehi s ga Georgo t , e Paton, antiquarian bood an k collector workeo Edinburge wh th , n di h Custom Societe Housereath s o dwa t y t i ; of Antiquaries of London by Richard Gough in March 1773. Although Low mentioned a Mr Banks as his co-worker in the excavation of two of the burial mounds, no one in recent years appear havo s alreadt s ewa identifieo y wh wel n companios l hi dknowma e r havinth nfo s na g travelled round the world with Captain Cook in the Endeavour, 1768-71, and who was to become very much better known as President of the Royal Society for more than forty years. The purpos presene th f o e t dranoto t s wei attentio f survea e o Link o th nt e f f Skailyo on so y b l Banks's artists, and to two pencil sketches of a cist and skeleton excavated there by Banks and Low, together with a large party of helpers. A paper already in the press elsewhere gives particulars of some other early records concerned with survea thi f so drawingd sited yan stonee an , th f so s t Stennesa Banks'y sb s artists (Lysaght 1974). When Banks decide e summeth n di f 177o r o withdra2t w from Cook's second voyage round the world, he commissioned a brig, the Sir Lawrence, 192 tons, and sailed for Iceland viHebridese ath , takin intended g ha stafe witmose Resolution.th e m h ftakf o th hdhi t o t n ei In addition to Lieutenant John Gore (? 1730-90), one of his chief friends in the Endeavour, he was accompanie competeno tw y db t scientists, Daniel Solander (1733-82) mosa , t able botanist e favouritth f o e e on pupil d f Linnaeuso an s d Jamean , s Lind (1736-1812) a physicis, d an t physician, with a keen interest in astronomy and meteorological phenomena. The artists on board were James and John Frederick Miller whose dates are unknown - they were members of a family of 27 children, their father being a Nuremberg engraver who was an accomplished botanical artist; bot thesf ho e sons worke Bankr numbeda fo r sfo yearsf o r addition I . theo nt m thers Johwa en Cleveley, Junr (1747-86), who, lik fathers a marin ehi s wa ,e artis f abilityo t , nauticaa d an l surveyor, Frederick Herm. Walden, about whom very little appear knowne b o t s ; years later he wrote to Banks about a method for estimating the area of the sails of ships of the line. Ther alss oewa Sigismund Bacstrom, surgeo naturalistd nan , who thin o , s occasion, acted secretarys servanta o tw d san , from Revesby, Banks's Lincolnshire home: Peter d Briscoha o ewh been with Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1766, as well as in the Endeavour, and James Robert wheo wh sn only sixtee likewisd n yearha d sol e embarke Endeavour,e th n di d an was only twenty when he sailed for Iceland. Banks kept a careful diary when the Sir Lawrence was in the Hebrides, and for much of time th Icelandn ei ; ther alse ear o letter friendo st s amplifying experiencess somhi f eo . However, he does not appear to have recorded in any detail his return journey through the Orkneys, that is to say no journal has so far been found giving particulars of the Orkney antiquities in which obviousls wa e h y much interested. Luckil James u r ysfo Robert sMitchele kepth n diaryi a t w l no , Library, Sydney whicn i , briefle hh y outlined many eventvoyage th t f noteso e no d elsewhere, including the stay at Orkney, particularly the facts that some of the standing stones at Stenness were measured thad s spen an a wholwa ,t t y excavatinda e graveo gtw t Skailla s , altogether thirty people being engaged in this task. It seems scarcely possible that Banks would have failed recoro t d particular f theso s e operation meticulouslo s s d wheha e nh y recorde dimensione dth s formatione ofth Hebridest Staffe sa th n ai handee ;h d these ove Pennano rt publisheo wh t d them in his Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides (1774; 1776). All that we have on the Orkneys in his own hand are a few lines of jottings at the end of the second part of his Icelandic journal, now in the County Records Office, Kent (the first part is at McGill University). There are, however, in the British Museum four folio volumes of drawings of the Hebrides, Iceland and the Orkneys, by the Millers, Cleveley, Walden and a certain Charles Ruotte who made some fair copies later Britise Th . h Museum (Natural History) own ssmala l folio volum f drawingeo s SHORTER NOTES | 287 of Iceland plants, some of which are signed by J F Miller, and two notebooks, one containing miscellaneous scientific note plantsn so , animals, geology Solandery b c et , othere th , , mistakenly ascribe Solandero dt lisa f Icelandi s o ti , c plants with reference recorde literature th th o t sn si e of that period. Notes on the Hebrides and Orkney are missing. Banks has stated that he was a trespasser on Pennant's territory when he was visiting the Hebrides, and that he was going to hand over to him all his material from those islands. Accordingly many of the careful drawings people th landscapd f o ean e there were publishe Pennany d b wor e th kn i t cited above. Perhaps e materia th wito d e Orkney hth o t l s similarlwa s y give o someonnt e else, possibl Jameo yt s evey Lind founBritise e nma b th t .I n di h Museum where onl 197n yi 3 hav firse eth t three volumes f Banks'o s famous collectio f mapno s been 'discovered percipience th y b ' s energd eMr an f yo S J Tyacke. Walden's survey of the Links of Skaill (Add. MS 15511, f 11) shows the tent, presumably occupie Banks'y db s party buriae , th betwee f o l moundso ntw tope whicf th , so h loothef i s yka had been disturbed (pi 38). It appears probable that these mounds were selected to provide some shelte thad an rt those actually excavated were firstl largya e tene oneth tf , o show E nNN and just to the left of the top of the dune on the right hand side of the plan, and secondly a smalletente th f , o nea r shoree one W th rreasone SS , Th . r supposinsfo g that thes burialo etw mounds were selected for examination is that slabs of a cist can clearly be seen on the surface right-hane th f o dtrenca oned markes an ,hi d quite plainlsmallee th nea e n shoree yo on r th r . Low first described the excavation in the letter mentioned above; it was altered slightly publishee th n i d version followine Th . g extrac takes i t n fro originas mhi l lette Georgo rt e Paton, which is now in the National Library of Scotland:

'When Mr Banks was here I was with him every day and he was pleased to make me Directo Orknes hi Particulan i f o ry y da tour wene e rw On ;Grava t e Diggin Linke th n gsi of Skail on the Mainland where there are great numbers of tumuli. We pitched upon one which seemed never to have been moved since its first construction and Mr Banks ordered his People to begin at one Side and dig to the other that we might see the whole fabrick flattisa f o s h Conicawa t I . ofit l Shap afte. . e. r digging awa ygreaa t quantit sanf yo d till we came nea Centee hile people rth th th l f o re Struck their Spade severan so l large Stones upon whic Bankr hM s ordered roun g thedi mwhole o dt theth d em constructioan n appeared as I have sketched it with my pen first a large quantity of sand and then a large parcel of great Stones which seemed to have been taken from the neighbouring Sea Shore; when these were remove e Coffidth r Cheso n t appeared whic s composehwa f foudo r Stones covered wit hvera y large fift Gentlemad h Ol stone e th thin I y : n t sla appeare i (fo o s r d teets bSids y hi wase hi h eh n wito ) hands hhi s breasts foldehi knees n do hi , s drawp nu heels hi bells sd hi toward yan o t hipss shi highla , s thiswa y preserved skeleton notwith- standing the Length of time it must have lain all the bones remained, only they were sbftish till the yfore whitisa hardeneth f m o n i air e flese s hth th ; Eart hwa n d i h lying aboue th t Bones of the thicker parts of the Body, and on the Arms &c was Scattered a sort of blackish fibres which Dr Lind supposed might have been the Vascular System. What was very f somo remarkablg e ba ver a ys Coarsewa e Vegetable Stuff s feewhic hi s lait t da hwa containin Bonee gYoungea th f so r person, which seeme havo dt e bee nWomana , upon whic mads hwa a ever y ingenious conjecture. That this might have bee o e wifnth wh e dyed perhap migho t thirtt havsa wh tno & ey beee yearag nf so burie d husbanr tillhe d dyed, whed an n this happene r bonedhe s might have been lai d collectet dan a g thio t Ba sn di hisame s th fee en i Gravt e- 288 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1971-2 'Wha somethins wa t g whetheodde mad s se Examininn i ,o wa t e t ri g Ba e gpieca th f eo of a Vegetable or Animal Substance I discovered it full of a Species of Insects called by Linaeus Dermestes. These together with the Bag were reduced to a blackish mass which might be reduced to powder between the fingers but the warp and woof of the Latter as well as the entire Shape of the Insects might easily be traced.' sketcA h paperamongs Librarw e Universite th Lo th n s e i f yo th t Edinburgf yo h illustrates f theso e e on graves labelles i d an ,Low' n di handwritin n 1076 sow C f 135), D S . g(M Banks himself wrot follows ea s (Kent Count October8 1 ) y31 Archive:Z 1 95 sU 'See fig. stones cave cliff& s s Burying placeLinke th n si peopl f Barreo a superstititious in relation to the Standing Stones Story of Girl that parish still has people who speak danish Vitrified burnt stuff near the Parsons with bones burying places coffins of Slate 4-3 2.4 sides & top no bottom immense abundanc f Tumulo e i commonly coverd with whole stoneth n e eo s th fac f o e bray ashes or bones sometimes both in one coffin beads 400 locket with Dr Ramsay found among ashes bonesame th en si Coffin hair 20 Octobe buryine Se r g, . place . . e s Se ope e non James Roberts' accoun s muci t h more informative e excavatio th s dat r hi ; fo e s 21sni t October; ther s somei e evidence tha Bankd t botan e shh wrote their notes after thelefd ytha Orkneyse th . 'Moderate Breeze Hazd san y weather t foua , r this mornin r BanksgM r SolanderD , , with the rest of the Gentleman, and Servants, and many of the Natives with Spades went to a place call'd Sandwick, wher open'e e w Antien o dtw t Tombs r Tumulio , eacn i , f theho m was found the Bones of a man, and woman, the form of their Interment was somewhat Singular, they were laid in a very coarse mat which was entirely rotten, the bones of the woman were laid at the man's feet, the Tomb was form'd of Flagstones, one on each side, same top e th othee th s eth ,on t wit t a t wa reacadditioa e a e he th h on on end d f no an , Bottome th Tombse I foumeasures .th f wa ro t feei ,e tdon Eight Inches long feeo tw t, Eight Inches broad, and two feet four Inches in depth; the other was nearly the same; the man was laid with his feet nearly up to his Chin, which perhaps was the custom of the times, for without his being Buried in this manner, the place could not have contained him, as he must have been about seven feet high in proportion to his thigh bone which measures nineteen Inches Draughtsmee Th . n made drawing f bot o sTombse e hth th n I . Evenin r partgou y (which consiste f aboudo t thirty hands) return' Stromneso dt d ha e sw with us our two French horns and Saunders with his Violin, so that we spent the day very agreeably.' There seems little doubt that the pencil sketch reproduced here (pi 39) represents the skeleton and bag of bones described both by Low and Roberts, especially since Low noted the remarkabla s a g presencba e e th occurrence f eo . Ther faina s ei t drawin bae parth a g f f go o t on the verso of the figure of the skeleton (Add. MS 15509, f 56); it seems to be made in strips, and is torn. It is inscribed 'Part of the Bag 1^ asunder'. An accompanying sketch, f 57, shows a rough outlinslabe th sf eo constitutin verse th ciste writtes ogi n th o ; n 'The Thighbone th f eo man Seconfro e ot fth m ou d grave Measured , , Ther. nothins e responsi s wa shoo go t w-wh SHORTER NOTES | 289 ible for the drawings; the writing bears some resemblance to captions on some of the sketches f Icelando t thesbu , e nee t necessarildno y have been writteartiste th y snb concerned. Dr Anna Ritchie comments: 'It is not now possible to establish the precise location of the mounds excavated by Banks on the Links of Skaill (RCAMS 1946, 267-8). From the various description , howeveris t si , clear that these mounds covered short cist burial f Earlo s y Bronze Age date." Finally, it is perhaps worth noting that Banks himself does not appear to have made a large collection of British archaeological material. There is very little that can be ascribed to amongsm hi collectione th t Britise th n i sh Museum, long-lastina althoug d ha e hh g interesn i t prehistory. He seems to have given away most of what he turned up himself; we can see that he was a very careful worker from the detailed descriptions he wrote of two other excavations in which he was involved, one in South Wales, now being prepared for publication by Mr S R Broadbridge, and another near Goldsborough in Yorkshire. r AnnD o t a l Ritchikinr Thankal firse he f d preparatioo du e r t hele th fo sar n p i thif no s note. It is again a pleasure to acknowledge my gratitude to the Librarian and Staff of the Lyon Playfair Library, Imperial Colleg f Scienceo Technologyd ean facilitiee th r fo , I shav e enjoyed while working on Banks's antiquarian interests. Thanks are also due to the National Library of Scotland for the use of George Low's letter to George Paton, and to the Trustees of the British Museum for the photographs of Banks's Orkney drawings, to the Trustees of the Mitchell Library, Public Library of New South Wales for the extract from James Roberts's diary, and to Counte th y Archives Office, passage Kentth r ,fo e from Banks's journa voyags hi f o lIcelando et .

REFERENCES Lysaght, Averi 197M l 4 'Joseph Bank t Skarsa a Bra Stennisd ean , Orkney, 1772', Notes Recordsd an of the Royal Society, 28, (1974), 221-34. RCAMS 1946 Royal Commissio Anciene th Historicad n no an t l Monument f Scotlandso , Inventory of Orkney, vol II. Edinburgh.