Negative painted pottery (NPP) is one of the most distinctive kinds of pottery made by Mississippian peoples during the Middle Mississippian period (ca. A.D. 1200-1500) in eastern North America. This pottery is decorated with a “resist painting technique, which creates a lighter-colored design outlined by a black pigment” over an underlying slip/wash.
Principal production areas for NPP include the lower Ohio River valley, the Nashville Basin, and the Bootheel of southeast Missouri, and there are four main types: Kincaid Negative Painted, Nashville Negative Painted, Sikeston Negative Painted, and Angel Negative Painted. This NPP has been found in several sites in the southern and northern Caddo areas, and its occurrence in Caddo sites constitutes compelling evidence for some form of contact and interaction between Caddo peoples and peoples from various Mississippian polities, most particularly Mississippian polities in the Nashville basin.