In the Early Roman Period the province of Pannonia imported pottery from several other provinces. The main sources were Italy, the Gaulish provinces, Germania and the Danubian region, but some pottery arrived from Moesia, Africa, the Easter Mediterranean and the territories of the free Germanic tribes as well. The imported ceramic vases are the precious indicators of the commercial relations of the province. In funerary context, as grave goods, they reflect the social and economical status of the deceased but also traditions and personal choices or even special relations with the regions that produced the imported pottery. After several indicators, the social situation of the person who furnished their grave with imported pottery was heterogeneous. The price of the imported vases depended on the type and the quality of the production, on their origin and the transportation costs. The use of imported vases is indeed different according to the types of cemeteries and communities. This analysis takes into account various parameters such as the types and the quality of the imports, the composition of burial assemblages, the type of structures and contexts. It aims to examine the influence of the political and economic situation of Pannonia and the characteristics associated with consuming communities and the economic capacity of families of the deceased on the choice of ceramic deposited in the graves. It shows particular trends related to changes in the pottery production centres supplying the Pannonian market and it highlights, in the point of view of funerary archaeology, the importance of indigenous elites and the army in the consumption of imported vases.
