The most distinctive product of the Ma-chia-yao culture (3,800-2,000 b.c.) was a type of painted pottery of extraordinary refinement which has become associated with the Neolithic grave sites at Pan-shan in Kansu province. This jar, like others shown here, was fashioned without the use of a potter's wheel by coiling rolls of clay into the desired shape, after which it was smoothed, burnished, painted and fired at a temperature around 1000 degrees F. Because most Ma-chia-yao pottery was a less refined, more utilitarian ware, and since elaborate jars such as this were usually buried with the deceased, it is probably that they held food for the afterlife and the designs may have held religious significance for the ancient Chinese.