Substantial effort has been expended in search of the relationships between subsistence and settlement for the Classic Period (A.D. 250-900) Maya civilization.  While this has resulted in the exploration and critique of a variety of different systems, the exact nature and variety of subsistence bases used remains incompletely defined.  This paper seeks to document a specific Maya subsistence system--that of intensive agricultural terraces interwoven with a densely settled terrain--and to show how subsistence and settlement functioned together within the "garden city" of Caracol, Belize.  The combination of a dense settlement embedded in a complex matrix of agricultural terraces formed a successful partnership at the site for minimally four centuries.  The on-the-ground visibility of the farming systems seen at Caracol may also have application relative to the questions of sustainability at other Maya sites where the agricultural systems are largely invisible.

Keywords: agriculture, terracing, urbanization subsistence production, Ancient Maya