Consider Phlebas - Second quarter 14th century. As I recall, it took place during the first phase of the war, described in the appendices. This would put it between 1327 and 1335.

Excession - 19th Century, possibly late 18th or early 20th; Exact dates are unkown. It is stated to occur 500 years after the Culture-Idiran war.

The State of the Art (in the collection of short stories of the same name)- 1977-1978. Stated in the book.

The Player of Games - 21st century, possibly late 20th or early 21st; again, exact dates are unknown. Stated to occur 700 years after the Culture-Idiran war.

Look to Windward - mid to late 22nd century. Took place 803 of the Culture's years after the Twin Novae battle at the end of the Culture-Idiran war. The Twin Novae battle took place between 1335 and 1367, most likely within the last ten years of that period. Assuming their years are the same as ours', this would place the book in the area of 2138 to 2170, more likely ~2160 - 2170.



Stories the exact position of which in the timeline is not known:

Descendant (from The State of the Art) - Occured during a war. Possibly the Culture-Idiran war, but that is not certain.

A Gift From The Culture (from The State of the Art) - The miniaturisation of the gun, combined with a statement in Use of Weapons by Skaffen-Amtiskaw that they can make pistols more powerful than the antique rifle Zakalwe was playing with, suggest that it takes place after ~2000.

Use of Weapons - To the best of my recollection, when this takes place relative to Consider Phlebas was not stated. It must take place after The State of the Art, however, as one of the characters, Diziet Sma, is present in both; as a member of Contact in TSotA, and a Special Circumstances agent in this book. The State of the Art was a letter from Sma to a man researching Earth around the time of official first Contact, ~2110, edited by Skaffen-Amtiskaw. It is stated early in the letter that 115 years have passed since the Arbitrary studied Earth, placing the writing of the letter at ~2092. It is also said in the letter that she has been gone for the past hundred days or so, with Skaffen-Amtiskaw, due to her SC duties. It's possible Use of Weapons takes place during this time, but I'm not certain; I'm not sure if it could fit into that period.

There is an apparent discrepancy between Excession and The Player of Games, and which occurs earlier. As noted above, they are stated to occur five hundred and seven hundred years after the Idiran war, respectively. Yet, in Excession, there is a reference to one 'Azadian Debacle', apparently referring to events which take place in The Player of Games, two hundred years later. Considering the amount of evidence for each, this single remark about the 'Azadian Debacle' is outweighed by multiple explicit quotes stating how long it has been since the war.