This article presents the chronological framework used to
reconstruct the political history of the ancient Lowland Maya
site of Xunantunich in the upper Belize River valley. Extensive
excavations from 1991 to 1997 by the Xunantunich Archaeological
Project produced the ceramic, architectural, and epigraphic
data needed to place the site within a temporal context. Refinement
of the Barton Ramie ceramic chronology was the first step toward
clarifying the Xunantunich chronology. Seriation of well-known
Spanish Lookout types and modes from stratified deposits
established a framework for understanding Late and Terminal
Classic assemblages. Twenty-two radiocarbon samples place these
ceramic complexes in absolute time. Obsidian hydration and masonry
techniques were found to be less reliable chronological markers.
The results indicate that Xunantunich emerged as a regional
center during the Samal (A.D. 600–670) and
Hats' Chaak (A.D. 670–780) phases of the
Late Classic period. Arguably, this rapid growth and florescence
was initiated under the auspices of nearby Naranjo. Although
the polity achieved political autonomy in the following Tsak'
phase (A.D. 780–890) of the Terminal Classic
period, civic construction diminished and rural populations
declined until the site collapsed sometime during the late ninth
or early tenth century.