This double-handled Neolithic pottery pot has a straight cylindrical neck and an ovoid body that tapers to a flat base. Since the potter's wheel was unknown at this time, pottery wares were probably piled roughly into shape and beaten with a paddle to achieve rotundity. A cutting tool was further used to scrape the piece into its final shape. The buff-red earthenware is decorated with cross-hatching on the neck and painted in black with shades of red.The most common forms in pottery during the Machang phase of the Majiayao (or Gansu Yangshao) culture were two-handled jars, bowls and beakers. Motifs on these wares were mostly geometric with a wide variety of decorations that include curvilinear patterns, cross-hatching, lozenges, triangles, and circles.
