The pile-dwelling people distinguished between tableware and cooking utensils. And this was not merely for aesthetic reasons. Bowls and jugs were often finely crafted and adorned with elaborate decorations, their surfaces smoothed and polished. Cooking utensils, on the other hand, were rough, and the clay was applied only in a coarse layer. The walls were thicker and interspersed with small pieces of weathered stone. This had the advantage that the pots did not slip so easily from the hand. The cloth, used as protection against the heat of the hearth fire, clung to the more grippy surface.

Cooking was done using two methods: directly over the hearth fire, or indirectly using hot cooking stones, which were placed in the soup or broth to be heated, much like an immersion heater. Experiments have shown that coarse cookware is suitable for both methods, whilst more finely crafted pots are less able to withstand the indirect method.