The ‘dove vase' is the largest and best-preserved example of a rare type of vessels at present known only from the island of Keros and specifically the site of Kavos-Daskalio, where many fragments of such vases have been found. The presence of the row of birds exactly across the bottom obviates a practical function of the vessel. It may have been for ritual offerings, as some researchers have proposed; its possible provenance from Kavos on Keros supports such a view, since at this site objects of symbolic significance were intentionally broken and deposited, most probably in the context of specific rituals.