Pottery, born of the union between earth and water has been gifted by fire with almost eternal life. The need for pottery products arose since the dawn of the neolithic age, when man started to build permanent settlements, cultivating the earth and storing food. It remains unknown exactly where and how man, motivated by the same basic needs, experimented with pottery for the first time. The solutions to everyday problems found by the inhabitants of a certain area remained unchanged down to the days of industrialization and even later. A typical example is furnished by the male inhabitants of Thrapsano, a mountainous village 30 km. from Herakleion, Crete, who are famous for the making of pithoi. This activity is not only limited to the vicinity, since every summer they practice their skill all over the island and exercise their handicraft in temporary workshops. The technique they use is traditional and closely related to that of their Minoan fellow potters.