Ceramics is one of the most ancient and appreciated crafts the Uzbek people have ever possessed. Having arisen at the dawn of human civilization, primarily for satisfaction of needs for kitchen utensils, ceramics became the most important part of the world cultural heritage. It is not without reason that scientists age-date a historical epoch of archeological findings by broken pieces of pottery, since for an archeologist ceramics means as much as a written source does for a historian. Yet a considerable number of specimens of Uzbekistan’s ancient ceramics are also art monuments. The basic forms and types of earthenware design developed as early as the Bronze Age. Probably at the same time handicraftsmen started to apply a potter's wheel. The invention of a potter's wheel is so significant for the history of human civilization that it can only be compared with the invention of a wheel. Instead of clumsy thick-walled modeled utensils potters began to make rounded bowls and jugs with thin walls decorated with incisions in the form of meanders and broken lines, or adorned with paintings depicting images of animals and plants surrounded by geometrical figures – symbols of the sun, stars and waves. In the old days these ornaments bore a magic meaning. Having slightly changed, they remained in the Uzbek ceramics decor to this day. In each region of Uzbekistan ceramics has its own peculiarities and traditions which have been developing for centuries, but the basic techniques applied by masters – kulols are alike everywhere. Ceramic pottery is shaped on the potter's gadget – charkh consisting of two wooden wheels fixed on a vertical pin. The potter-kulol sits in front of the gadget, rotating the bottom wheel with his feet. On the top wheel there is a clod of clay. As a rule, potter’s handicraft in Uzbekistan is passed down from father to son and every master has his own secrets of mix preparation. Some potters add lint of the reed into the loess clay, while others mix wool of the goat and bentonite – oily viscous clay. Some masters prefer taking clay from old earth mounds and keeping it in water for three years. Handicraftsmen do not use clay mixers – they sort out the clay by hand, purifying it of extraneous impurities, and puddling it with their legs. Creation of a product in the potter's hands is like a miracle. Rotating a potter's wheel and continually moistening clay with water, master-kulol creates various forms. Kuza is a vessel intended for storage of water and oil, kuzacha is a pitcher for water as well as for washing, tagora is a deep basin for making dough, khurma is for souring milk, guldon is a vase for flowers, lagan is a dish for plov. The most labor-intensive process is making a khum – a big wide-necked pot for storing grain. Its size can reach man’s full height. To make such a huge pot a potter should master the "gumbulak" technique: the bottom part of khum is made on a potter's wheel and the rest of it is simultaneously molded by hand. And all that should be done very quickly, while the clay is still soft, otherwise there may appear cracks on the finished product.