The Barrow Pit

The Barrow Pit. . In the middle of this field can be seen a large depression. The dirt from here was probably used to build Sauls Mound. We know the Native Americans carefully layered some of the mounds with different colors of soil, sand and clay. These colors and different materials had religious and ceremonial meaning to the Native Americans, although we will never know exactly what the layers meant. The Native Americans did not have metal shovels or picks to dig the dirt. Instead, they probably used deer scapulae (the shoulder blade) to scrape the dirt into woven baskets. They carried the baskets to the mound, dumping the contents one after another. The dirt required to build Sauls Mound would fill a line of average sized dump trucks stretching over 26 miles.