Large earthenware jars, pithoi, for storing oil, wine and cereals have been made in Crete for over 3000 years and it is likely that the methods have changed little. Potters work in guilds (vendema) consisting of six craftsmen: the master-potter, the second potter, the wheeler, the clay man, the wood-cutter and the carrier. Jars are made on low turn tables rotated by hand using a combined technique of coiling and throwing. The author gives a detailed description of the working process and firing cycles in large upright cylindrical kilns. -- AATA