Coba

For other uses, see Coba (disambiguation).
Cobá
Coba Archeological Area
Coba is located in Mesoamerica
Coba
Shown within Mesoamerica
Coba is located in Quintana Roo
Coba
Coba (Quintana Roo)
LocationQuintana Roo, Mexico
RegionYucatán Peninsula
Coordinates20°29′24″N 87°43′55″W / 20.49000°N 87.73194°W / 20.49000; -87.73194
History
PeriodsLate Preclassic to Late Postclassic
CulturesMaya civilization
Site notes
ConditionIn ruins

Coba (Spanish: Cobá) is an ancient Maya city on the Yucatán Peninsula, located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The site is the nexus of the largest network of stone causeways of the ancient Maya world, and it contains many engraved and sculpted stelae that document ceremonial life and important events of the Late Classic Period (AD 600–900) of Mesoamerican civilization.[1] The adjacent modern village bearing the same name, reported a population of 1,278 inhabitants in the 2010 Mexican federal census.[2]

Map of the Cobá archeological site

The ruins of Coba lie 47 km (approx. 29 mi) northwest of Tulum, in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The geographical coordinates of Coba Group (main entrance for tourist area of the archaeological site) are North 19° 29.6’ and West 87° 43.7’. The archaeological zone is reached by a two-kilometer branch from the asphalt road connecting Tulum with Nuevo Xcán (a community of Lázaro Cárdenas, another municipality of Quintana Roo) on the Valladolid to Cancún highway.[3]

Coba is located around two lagoons, Lake Coba and Lake Macanxoc. A series of elevated stone and plaster roads radiate from the central site to various smaller sites near and far. These are known by the Maya term sacbe (plural sacbeob) or white road. Some of these causeways go east, and the longest runs over 100 kilometres (62 mi) westward to the site of Yaxuna. The site contains a group of large temple pyramids known as the Nohoch Mul, the tallest of which, Ixmoja, is some 42 metres (138 ft) in height.[4] Ixmoja is among the tallest pyramids on the Yucatán peninsula, exceeded by Calakmul at 45 metres (148 ft).[5][unreliable source]

Coba was estimated to have had some 50,000 inhabitants (and possibly significantly more) at its peak of civilization, and the built up area extends over some 80 km2. The site was occupied by a sizable agricultural population by the first century. The bulk of Coba's major construction seems to have been made in the middle and late Classic period, about 500 to 900 AD, with most of the dated hieroglyphic inscriptions from the 7th century (see Mesoamerican Long Count calendar). However, Coba remained an important site in the Post-Classic era and new temples were built and old ones kept in repair until at least the 14th century, possibly as late as the arrival of the Spanish.

Cobá lies in the tropics, subject to alternating wet and dry seasons which, on average, differ somewhat from those in the rest of the northern peninsula, where the rainy season generally runs from June through October and the dry season from November through May. At Cobá, rain can occur in almost any time of the year, but there is a short dry period in February and March, and a concentration of rain from September through November.[6]

  1. ^ "Coba | ancient city, Mexico". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2015-10-23.
  2. ^ 2010 census tables: INEGI Archived May 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Coba". Peabody.harvard.edu. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  4. ^ Folan et al. 1983
  5. ^ "Calakmul - The Ultimate Guide to the Mayan Ruins - The Ultimate Guide". Mayanruins.info. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  6. ^ Stuart, George E. "Cobá." In Davíd Carrasco (ed). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. : Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 9780195188431