The cemetery at Jartypory, distr. Węgrów in eastern Poland1 (Fig. 1), is one of the largest known gravefields of the Wielbark culture in right-bank Mazowsze and in Podlasie. So far, the excavated area of ca 1550 m2 yielded almost 400 graves, both inhumation and cremation, dated to phases B2/C1–C2 of the Late Roman Period; stray finds indicate that the site continued in use until the early phase of the Migration Period2. A cremation pit grave 106 (Fig. 2, 3) contained ca 50 fragments of terra sigillata, dispersed within the pit fill. They were reassembled into a bowl – H. ca 10 cm, R. 18 cm and B. 7.5 cm (Fig. 4a.b). The same grave assemblage also featured fragments of melted pale yellow glass from an undetermined vessel, sherds of locally produced hand--built pottery vessels (Fig. 5c–f), fragments of a tri-layer antler comb (Fig. 5a), and a bronze belt buckle (Fig. 5b). A small quantity of heavily burnt and very poorly preserved bones belonged to a male (?), 30–50 years old (adultus−maturus)5. Dating the assemblage is quite difficult. The only diagnostic element is a large and solid elbow handle (surviving length ca 11 cm!), presumably from a type IXA jug (Fig. 5d), datable to phase C1b–C28–16. Grave 106 partly intruded on the pits of graves 122 and 126 (Fig. 2, 3a,). Of these, grave 126 cannot be dated more closely and grave 122 is placed in phases C1b–C217. In any case, the top layer of grave 122 yielded two fragments of a terra sigillata vessel and further isolated fragments occurred in graves 102B and 107, with some stray pieces discovered in the direct neighbourhood of grave 106 (Fig. 6). It is interesting that a terra sigillata rim sherd, perhaps from the same vessel, was discovered at the bottom of the humus layer ca 22 m (!) to the west of grave 106. Since all these fragments may be refitted with the vessel from grave 106, presumably they must have become relocated from the upper layer of that grave. Grave 102B may be dated only broadly to the Late Roman Period, it is possible to define the chronology of grave 10719 reliably as phase C1b, which, at the same time, is the terminus ante quem of the burial in grave 106. All of which ultimately places grave 106 in phase C1b. The reconstruction of the terra sigillata vessel as a Drag. 37 bowl22 is beyond question. Bowls of this type prevail among finds of terra sigillata from the area of Middle European Barbaricum, in Poland they make up almost 95% of vessels determined morphologically. What is exceptional is ornamentation of the bowl from Jartypory. It includes (cf fig. 4a): 1. The raised potter’s stamp, (STA)TVT(VSF) (?), similar to the one published by W. Ludowici26 (cf fig. 7a); 2. Ovolo, Ricken-Fischer25 E28 (cf fig. 7b); 3. Bull turned right, Ricken-Fischer T119a (cf fig. 7c); 4. Deer turned left, Ricken-Fischer T82a (cf fig. 7d); 5. Lioness turned right, Ricken-Fischer T35a (cf fig. 7e); 6. Archer, Ricken-Fischer M174g (cf fig. 7f); 7. Unidentified animal turned left. Both the stamp and the surviving set of ornaments help in tracing the vessel from Jartypory to the wares of STATUTUS I from Rheinzabern, classified to group IIIb acc. to H. Bernhard27. The time of production of the bowl can be determined broadly as the second terce of the 3rd c. (AD 233–260/275). Most of the fragments of the terra sigillata bowl from Jartypory are burnt, but a few show no trace of fire or only light discolorations of its dark red slip. Combined all the bowl fragments from grave 106 comprise only 20–30% of the vessel, which must follow from the failure to recover all of the mortuary furnishings from the remains of the burnt pyre. At the same time it is hard to say whether the fact of the deposition in the grave of fragments of an incomplete vessel results from the application of the principle of pars pro toto or from other elements of the funerary ritual unclear to us at present. Finds of samian wares in the Wielbark Culture territory are exceedingly rare (Fig. 8): so far from 20 sites (including Jartypory) we have just 22–24 vessels. For comparison, the area of Przeworsk Culture has yielded not less than 395 terra sigillata vessels so far. To the list of samian wares from Wielbark Culture4 may be added also a new find from Czarnówko, distr. Lębork, grave 37345, a fragment from Warzawa-Dotrzyma46, and perhaps, also a fragment from Lubartów, distr. loco, both fragments attributed previously to Przeworsk Culture48. In the case of fragments of samian wares from Opoka, distr. Puławy50, and from Gościeradów, distr. Kraśnik51, it is possible equally well to link them with Przeworsk Culture as with Wielbark Culture. At the same time, it is necessary to remove from the list of Wielbark Culture finds the fragment from Masłomęcz, distr. Hrubieszów, grave 41754, which in reality is a sherd of a hand-built vessel of local make, and an unreliably dated and attributed fragment of terra sigillata from a southern Gaulish workshop discovered at Kopyłów, distr. Hrubieszów53. The Drag. 37 bowl from Jartypory, produced AD 233–260/275, is the latest terra sigillata find from the area of Wielbark Culture, younger than samian wares from Pfaffenhofen dated to the first and the beginning of the second terce of the 3rd c. known from a grave from Janowo30, and from a destroyed grave from Pomielin, distr. Iława31. At the same time, all the three sigillata finds come from assemblages dated reliably to phase C1b. The vessel from Jartypory is also one of very few pieces of evidence on the coming to the territory of Poland of terra sigillata from Rheinzabern produced after AD 230, noted, until recently, only on territory of Przeworsk Culture.68–70 The structure of terra sigillata finds from the area of Wielbark Culture does not show any regularity when it comes to the participation of individual workshops and gives an impression that the collection is quite random; at the same time, selection of vessels suggests that emphasis was placed on pieces of better quality. In most cases samian wares in Wielbark deposits are intact vessels from the furnishings of rich inhumations (region of Gdańsk88 [?], Gronowo, distr. Drawsko Pom., grave 1/2657, Odry, distr. Chojnice, grave 42357, Pomielin31, Weklice, distr. Elbląg, grave 20862, Malbork-Wielbark, distr. loco93) or – which is quite interesting – urns in cremation graves (Domkowo, distr. Ostróda95, Leśno, distr. Chojnice, site 196, Sadłowo, distr. Rypin33). In six cases (Ciemniewko, distr. Ciechanów58–60, Czarnówko45, Janowo30, Jartypory, Kleszewo, distr. Pułtusk, grave 150103, Warszawa-Dotrzyma46) occurred in cremation graves as burnt fragments; the remaining terra sigillata finds are from earlier discoveries, badly documented or not at all (Dębice, town of Elbląg65, Iława, distr. loco39), or from destroyed features (Gostkowo-Folsąg, distr. Toruń105, Sopot, distr. loco106). Urns from Leśno and Sadłowo are vessels from the workshop COMITIALIS SECUNDIN.AVI from Rheinzabern. A single vessel from this workshop is known from the area of Przeworsk Culture (Opatów, distr. Kłobuck98); similarly as only a single find of a late Severan complete Rheinzabern vessel (Lisów, distr. Opatów99). A context of discovery of sigillata definitely similar to the one at Jartypory was noted at Janowo and Kleszewo, and perhaps also at Ciemniewko; the grave from Czarnówko was decidedly much richer, with a bronze vessel, gold ornaments and glass gaming counters. The number of terra sigillata vessels in Wielbark Culture and the character of these finds suggests a greater importance of this category of imports as a mark of status than in case of Przeworsk Culture, perhaps due also to the smaller availability of samian wares in the Wielbark environment. At the same time, all our conclusions in this regard are seriously limited by the fact that in case of Wielbark Culture die wiederentdeckte Kultur is represented almost exclusively by cemeteries and stray finds. Nevertheless the differences in the number, dating of the influx, centres of production of terra sigillata vessel finds from the area of Wielbark and Przeworsk Culture are quite significant and – apparently – not random, even if compare only the material from graves and cemeteries.