PAGE 1
A NEGATIVE PAINTED
CERAMIC CUP
MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
CAHOKIA MOUNDS AREA
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS

PAGE 1 OF 2 PAGES
COPYRIGHT MARCH 31, 2008 PETER A. BOSTROM
Thin edge of negative painted Cahokia pottery cup.
NEGATIVE PAINTED CUP
1 MM THICK AT THE EDGES
MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
MADISON & ST. CLAIR COUNTIES, ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

Abstract image from negative paint design.

ABSTRACT
NEGATIVE PAINTED
CERAMIC CUP
MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
MADISON & ST. CLAIR COUNTIES, ILLINOIS

    Negative painted pottery from Late Prehistoric sites in the southern Mississippi Valley are rare. This report illustrates and describes a small cup that was decorated in this unique way. The exact find location is unknown. But it was reported to have been found in southern Illinois on or near the Cahokia Mounds site in Madison and St. Clair Counties. The finder is deceased and the small collection that once included this cup is now dispersed. The cup appears to be a ritual item. A few examples of negative painted pottery, in the form of sherds, have been reported from Cahokia. One suggestion is that it was found just after the "great flood of 1954" in one of the large washout ravines on the Cahokia Mounds site.

    "Another method of pottery ornamentation practiced by the townspeople (Mississippian people) is known as negative painting. It is achieved by painting the design with a substance that resists taking the color. Thus when the color is applied, only the untreated areas receive it."---1964, Carl H. Chapman & Eleanor F. Chapman, "Indians And Archaeology Of Missouri, p. 69.
     "A more notably rare and complex method is the Negative-Resist technique. The bottle (figure 279 in book) from Hickman County, Kentucky, shows evidence that the linear design was first applied with a substance such as pitch or tallow before the surface finish was applied. The high gloss surface finish was the result of prolonged polishing and of dipping the vessel into hot grease both before and after firing. When the firing process was completed, the finish resulted in a slick, black surface while the protective resistive substance applied in the line design had burned away displaying the original clay base of the vessel."---1976, Roy Hathcock, "Ancient Indian Pottery Of The Mississippi River Valley," p. 14.
    "There are numerous instances where negative painting is the only method employed, but there are a number of vessels where both negative and direct painting are present."
---1980, Carl H. Chapman , The Archaeology Of Missouri, II," p. 296.
    "The negative-painted pottery, whether locally made (relating to the Moundville site, Alabama) or acquired from external sources, circulated only in restricted contexts. Such vessels often ended up as grave goods in elite cemeteries at the Moundville site and neither negative-painted vessels nor shards are so far known from any of the sites in Moundville's hinterlands"----2004, Vincas P. Steponaitis and Vernon J. Knight, Jr., Hero Hawk And Open Hand, "Moundville Art In Historical And Social Context," p. 174.
    "Angel Negative Painted is the type name given to the unclipped and red-slipped negative painted plates found in relative large numbers at the Angel and Kincaid sites on the lower Ohio River. I would suggest that they are ritual serving vessel made especially for and perhaps only used during an Angle ceremony at the Angel site similar to the recorded new fire or green corn ceremony."
---1996, Sherri L. Hilgeman, "New Fire Ceremony Plates At The Angel Site," Glenn A. Black Laboratory Of Archaeology, Indiana University, web site.
    "Black (
pigment) was used on late Mississippian sites and is believed to be a vegetal compound rather than a mineral pigment. In southeastern Missouri and neighboring areas eastward, black was used in a negative decoration. Negative decoration is considered by some as a mysterious, complex technique but in truth is a rather simple process. In negative decoration the line design was not painted, but instead the background was painted. When such a vessel was fired, the natural color of the clay (usually buff) remained lighter in contrast to the carbonized area of the background where the stain was applied."---1976, Roy Hathcock, "Ancient Indian Pottery Of The Mississippi River Valley," p. 14.

Abstract image.

A NEGATIVE PAINTED
CERAMIC CUP FROM THE CAHOKIA MOUNDS AREA
MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
MADISON & ST. CLAIR COUNTIES, ILLINOIS

   The Mississippian culture produced ceramic vessels in large numbers. They have been found in every conceivable size and style. Most of them are represented by undecorated bottles, jars or bowls from small village house sites. A smaller percentage of these are decorated with engravings, paint and sculpted images of animals. Some of the most interesting ceramic vessels, but fewer in number, were made in a style with images that portray mythological concepts. These more skillfully crafted  pots were placed with burials or were used in other types of ritual ceremonies. The decorative cup described in this article may have been used in this way.

Negative painted pottery cup from Cahokia Mounds area.
NEGATIVE PAINTED CERAMIC CUP
MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
MADISON & ST. CLAIR COUNTIES, ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     The negative painted design on the inside surface of this cup is complex. Most of the design is geometric in form with squares within squares. The outside surface is also negative painted. The grit or temper is very finely ground and the surface of the cup is polished. It measures 2 3/4 inches (7 cm) in diameter and 1 inch (2.6 cm) high.

      The majority of all Mississippian potters were most probably women. They made their ceramic vessels by the coil method without the use of a potter's wheel. Their tool kit would have included such things as pottery trowels and stones for smoothing and shaping the clay surface. They would also have used various types of bone, wood or stone tools for engraving and cutting designs into the clay. Some of the more intricate vessels were painted with pigments that were processed from both organic and inorganic materials. To insure against cracking, an additional temper or grog material was added to the clay in the form of crushed bone, sand or mussel shell. The production of a single pot involved many different gathering, refining and manufacturing processes.

Negative painted square within square image.Negative painted images on Cahokia ceramic cup.
NEGATIVE PAINTED DESIGNS
ON CERAMIC CUP FROM CAHOKIA AREA
MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
MADISON & ST. CLAIR COUNTIES, ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

      This small ceramic cup is negative painted with a basic geometric pattern of squares within squares. However, the paint is very faint and there may be other patterns that are difficult to see.

     Individuality does not seem to have been one of the goals of the Mississippian potters. Although there are differences in skill levels that can observed, they followed an established pattern of design. Some of the imagery is understood in some form or another today, but a good percentage of the designs will probably never be completely understood.

Negative painted pottery cup from southern Illinois.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGER IMAGE

NEGATIVE PAINTED CERAMIC CUP
MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD
MADISON & ST. CLAIR COUNTIES, ILLINOIS
PRIVATE COLLECTION

     This picture shows a larger view of the negative painted cup from the Cahokia Mounds area. The negative painted pattern is faint but enough can be seen to know that it's very complex. Much of it seems to be geometric in form with straight lines and ninety degree angles. It measures 2 3/4 inches (7 cm) in diameter and 1 inch (2.6 cm) high.

      The small ceramic cup, that is illustrated in this article, was reported to have been found by a man who is now deceased and once lived in the Collinsville area in Madison and St. Clair counties. It's reported that he accumulated a small collection by surface hunting in farm fields in the area. This small cup or dish is so delicate that it was probably found in a washout after a heavy rain. The "great flood of 1954" is one possibility. Many people were surface collecting on and near mound 34 at Cahokia where heavy water erosion cut large ravines through the farm fields. Mound 34 is one of the only known areas where fragments of negative painted pottery has been found on the site.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"

1964, Chapman, Carl H. & Chapman, Eleanor F., "Indians And Archaeology Of Missouri, pp. 69 & 296.
1976, Hathcock, Roy, "Ancient Indian Pottery Of The Mississippi River Valley," p. 14.
1989, Fowler, Melvin, "The Cahokia Atlas, A Historical Atlas Of Cahokia Archaeology," p. 54.
1996, Hilgeman, Sherri L., "New Fire Ceremony Plates At The Angel Site," Glenn A. Black Laboratory Of Archaeology, Indiana University, web site.
2004, Steponaitis, Vincas P. and Knight, Vernon J., Jr., Hero Hawk And Open Hand, "Moundville Art In Historical And Social Context," p. 174.
Personal communications with Larry Kinsella.

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