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Note on a Grave Excavated by Joseph Banks and George Low at Skaillinl772

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Note on a Grave Excavated by Joseph Banks and George Low at Skaillinl772 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 notdrao 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.
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