We have two replica "pithoi" in our Classics Department Collection.
A pithos was a large Greek storage container, often for grains or fluids. Large numbers of these have been found on Bronze Age sites such as Minoan Crete. They were usually about as tall as a person, and had handles which would have been used to put ropes through in order for the containers to be lugged around.
Pithoi may also have been used for burial and rituals. A pithos was the type of vessel which Pandora is said to have carried in the myth of Pandora being created by Zeus and bringing evils to mankind by opening the lid of the jar.