Jordan has many natural clay deposits, which have been used for many centuries in the making of pottery. Early examples of pottery consisted of vessels for food storage, which had been sun-cured and baked in a pit fired with straw and dung. Large coil-and-slab pots, known as jarra, were originally used to store water or olive oil, but are now often seen as garden ornaments in the more elegant of Amman's villas.