Near "Beckwith's Fort," in Mississippi County, Missouri, are (p.
189)--

Low, flattish, circular mounds * * * [which] appear to belong to
two classes, those used for dwelling sites and those used for
burial purposes, the former being the higher and the color of the
surface layer darker than that of the other class. This darker
color of the surface layer is probably due to the fact that
immediately below it are found fire-beds with burnt earth,
charcoal, ashes, and the bones of animals, (mostly split). There
are seldom any human skeletons or entire vessels of pottery in
the mounds of this class though the earth is filled with
fragments of broken vessels.

In describing mound excavations in Crittenden County, Arkansas, the
explorer states (p. 227):

As an almost universal rule, after removing a foot or two of top
soil, a layer of burnt clay in a broken or fragmentary condition
would be found, sometimes with impressions of grass or twigs,
which easily crumbled but was often hard and stamped apparently
with an implement made of split reeds of comparatively large
size. This layer was in places a foot thick and frequently burned
to a brick red or even to clinkers.

Below this, at a depth of 3 to 5 feet from the surface, were more
or less ashes, and often 6 inches of charred grass, immediately
covering skeletons. The latter were found lying in all
directions, some with the face up, others with it down, and
others on the side. With these were vessels of clay, in some
cases one, sometimes more.

The positions of the skeletons in this mound would indicate that while
the inmates of the house were asleep the roof fell and killed them. It
was customary among some southern Indians to bury the dead under the
floors of the houses; but the text clearly shows that these skeletons
were lying on the floor. It would be supposed from most reports, not
only in the volume quoted, but from various other sources as well,
that only the walls of these houses were plastered with mud, the roof
being of thatch alone. It seems to be overlooked that the tops of the
houses would have even more need of such protection than the sides.
The marks indicating that the clay was "stamped apparently with an
implement made of split reeds" are only the impressions of the reeds
or saplings by which the clay was supported; the "brick like" or
"clinker like" condition of the clay being due,