In the Bronze Age Cypriot potters supplied the island's practical needs for cooking, serving and storage containers. Working without a fast wheel, they fashioned handmade vessels in a range of rounded forms that imitated the shapes of gourds, perhaps even molding some pots directly over gourds. This is unsurprising, since gourds themselves were used as containers.

Cypriot potters were also artisans who exercised considerable imagination in their craft. Their wares were always interesting, often exuberant, sometimes experimental and even outlandish. Since pottery was produced in small batches by individuals or families rather than by factories, idiosyncrasy rather than uniformity was the rule. Pottery was also discernibly regionalized, varying from place to place on the island. This makes the Bronze Age pottery of Cyprus among the most diverse found anywhere in the ancient world.