Stone carving techniques were imported into Crete at the beginning of the Bronze Age (3000 BC) from Egypt, Asia Minor and the Cyclades, where stone carving was well established. The Minoans started making stone vases in the Early Minoan II period (2600-2300 BC). The vases of this period have much in common with imported models. The influence of Egyptian stone carving becomes more apparent in manufacturing technique than in the shapes of these stone vases. However, a long tradition was gradually established, during the Late Bronze Age (1600-1070 BC)spread to Mycenaean Greece too.
The first stone vases were made as grave offerings, common in Egyptian tombs. In the Early Minoan tombs in the Mesara plain and the Asterousia Mountains as well as in sites such as Mochlos, Pseira and Palaikastro, the offering of many small stone vases in graves and antechambers of tomb buildings is usual. From the beginning of the second millenium BC, a radical change in the use of stone vases took place. New shapes were developed for use in houses and workshops.

Many domestic rocks as well as rocks imported from mainland Greece, the Cyclades and Egypt were used for the manufacture of stone vases. The conglomerate rocks and those with the deep coloured veins which lent a decorative tone to the vases were very popular. The more luxury stone vases had elaborate metal decorations, mainly copper and gold, imitating gold relief vases.

The shapes of stone vases were often adopted from pottery, although some distinct stone shapes did appear. The most common were handless cups, cups with high stands, spouted vessels resembling teapots and alabastrons. Moreover, vases for domestic and workshop use such as oil lamps, mortars, wash basins and basins for crushing grapes were also made of stone.

Some Minoan stone works are masterpieces, such as the bull's head rhyton of Knossos, a two-handled vase of white marble and a number of fine stone vases from Zakros, notably the elegant rock crystal rhyton with its peculiar shape. Agia Triada is the place where three of the best-known stone cups with relief representations come from: The Chieftain Cup, depicting a tripartite shrine, the Harvester Vase with an agricultural cult representation and the Boxer Rhyton with athletic scenes.

A special category of stone vase made up of rhyta, kernoi and a type of spoon seems to have designated for ritual use, judging by the peculiar shapes and the fact that they were found in places considered sacred, and that some of them bear Linear A dedicatory inscriptions.