Anabel Ford is the director of the MesoAmerican Research Center (MARC) at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The cultivable landscape of the ancient Maya flourished in the shallow friable soils of the limestone uplands, avoiding soils that the conventional Western agricultural systems deem arable not recognizing the cultivable lands that do not use plows. The Maya cultivated nature, embedding it in the cultural landscape as a cycle of varied forest habitats and productive fields that sustained everyday life. This tradition was unfamiliar to the Western eye and was literally overlooked. This presentation will show the links of contemporary Master Maya forest gardeners to the ancient Maya settlement pattern.