Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, well within sight of the Guatemala border – which is 0.6 miles (1 km) to the west.

[1] It served as a Maya civic ceremonial centre to the Belize Valley region in the Late and Terminal Classic periods (c.700-900AD).

[3] Xunantunich's name means "Maiden of the Rock" in the Maya languages Mopan and Yucatec, combining "Xunaan" (noble lady) and "Tuunich" (stone for sculpture).

[4] Gann's successor, Sir J. Eric S. Thompson, implemented a more methodical approach, and was able to establish the region's first ceramic chronology.

[5] In 1959–60, the Cambridge Expedition to British Honduras arrived in the colony, and its archaeologist member, Euan MacKie, who carried out several months of excavation at Xunantunich.

Using the European method of detailed recording of the stratigraphy of the superficial deposits (the masonry structures themselves were not extensively cut into) he was able to infer that both buildings had been shattered by a sudden disaster which marked the end of the Classic period occupation.

An earthquake was tentatively proposed as the cause; it is inferred purely on the basis of the excavated evidence, and also on the very damaged state of the top building of Structure A-6 ('El Castillo').

[6] Farmers that fed the occupants of Xunantunich typically lived in small villages, divided into kin-based residential groups.

Since the farmers were long established on their plots of land, they would not want to be involved with a polity that was under constant upheaval due to invading forces and more.

[7] Other nearby Maya archaeological sites include Chaa Creek and Cahal Pech, Buenavista del Cayo, and Naranjo.

Architectural constructions boomed in Hats’ Chaak phase (AD 670–750) when Xunantunich's connection with the polity Naranjo solidified.

[1][2] The core of the city Xunantunich occupies about one square mile (2.6 km2), consisting of a series of six plazas surrounded by more than 26 temples and palaces.

The chamber also contained a number of ceramic vessels, obsidian knives, jade pearls, animal bones and some other artefacts made of stone.

[12][13] During a time period when most of Maya civilizations were crumbling, Xunantunich was managing to expand its city and its power over other areas within the valley.

It is known that Xunantunich superseded Buenavista as the hub of sociopolitical administration for the upper valley, in addition to the main location for elite ancestral and funeral rites and ceremonies.