In this paper, Dr. Christian Mader, together with a group of researchers, presents an integrative and interdisciplinary approach to the study of ancient agricultural terraces and food production systems. They take the prehispanic site of Cutamalla (3,300 m asl) in the southern Peruvian Andes as an ideal and pioneering case study. Previous research has focused primarily on the settlement of Cutamalla, particularly through large-scale archaeological excavations, but less attention has been paid to the extensive farming terraces surrounding the settlement and the close relationship between agricultural and settlement activities. By analyzing both the terrace and settlement levels, a new perspective has been taken and the term agricultural terrace-settlement system has been introduced for such complexes. The results of this study show that the residential occupation of Cutamalla and the use of the surrounding farming terraces coincided.