Data of modern and historic peasant communities suggest that individuals and communities specialize in ceramic production for trade primarily to offset subsistence shortfalls arising from inadequate or insufficient agricultural land. Harry investigated whether this correlation of ceramic specialization with agricultural marginality occurred among prehistoric inhabitants of the American Southwest. At Arizona's West Branch site, occupied A. D. 900-1100, abundant pottery manufacturing materials suggest village-wide ceramic production in excess of that needed for household purposes. Harry points out, however, that if West Branch residents exchanged pots for food, one would expect the villages with which they traded to have produced more consistent food surpluses than West Branch did. In fact, the West Branch village appears to have been located in an area with better agricultural conditions than those of the pottery consuming settlements.