This study presents the results of an investigation into fine-ware production in the eastern Maya lowlands during the Classic to Postclassic transition (ca. AD 800–1250), a pe- riod characterised by the collapse of the Maya dynastic tradi- tion. A selection of fine-ware ceramics—Ahk’utu’ vases and Zakpah ceramics—from various sites across Belize was ex- amined by thin-section petrography and SEM-EDS analyses. The resultant compositional and technological data reveal that fine-ware production exhibited varying degrees of continuity and change in potters’ choices of raw materials and manufacturing technologies. The most significant change oc- curred in craft organisation. Fine-ware production shifted from the co-existence of two ceramic traditions, which guided potters regarding the raw materials used and technical prac- tices followed in making Ahk’utu’ vases during the earlier phase of transition (ca. AD 800–900/950), to the dominance of one broad tradition with greater liberty accorded producers in their execution of Zakpah fine-ware production during the later phase (ca. AD 950/1000–1200/1250). Such a shift is ar- gued to have been stimulated by a change and increase in the demands for fine-ware ceramics during the later phase of the transition, corresponding to the emergence and proliferation of a new elite stratum in the Maya lowlands.