One of the largest and most influential Maya cities, Chichen Itza dominated the northern Yucatán from the Terminal Classic into the early Postclassic, blending Puuc and Chenes Maya architectural styles with motifs long associated with central Mexico (the Temple of Kukulcan/El Castillo, the Great Ballcourt, the Sacred Cenote).
Chichen Itza's monumental core developed mainly between 750 and 900 CE (earliest hieroglyphic date 832 CE) and the city rose to become the dominant regional capital of the northern lowlands in the 10th century; archaeological evidence indicates it had declined as a political center by around 1100, though later Maya chronicles (e.g. the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel) attribute its fall to a legendary 13th-century conquest by Mayapán.
Focused archaeological/epigraphic study of Chichen Itza's chronology and political organization; verified on Open Library.