Contextualizing Xunantunich in the Late Classic Belize Valley through Investigations of Structure A9

Summary

Xunantunich, an ancient Maya site in the Belize Valley, rose rapidly from a minor political center to a powerful regional polity during the Late Classic period (AD 600-900). Previous researchers suggested that this rapid rise was influenced by Xunantunich’s relationship with the more powerful polity of Naranjo in the nearby Petén Province of Guatemala. Their argument was based in part on a Late Classic period building program at Xunantunich resulting in a site layout that resembles that of sites in the eastern Petén. Through our investigations of Structure A9, a temple pyramid in the site’s civic-ceremonial epicenter, we examine the local and regional socio-political significance of the site, and test the hypothesized influence of Naranjo on Xunantunich’s dramatic Late Classic period apogee.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21304