COBA

      Coba, the nearest large center in the area, was settled in the Late Formative or Protoclassic. It grew, during the Classic, into an extraordinarily large site, with the site center containing several pyramid groupings and the tallest Maya pyramids within Mexico. 

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Folan calculates "that during the eighth century an estimated 20,000 structures housed a population of approximately 55,000 inhabitants. It bears numerous hallmarks of a major regional center: areal size, size and number of structures, inter- and intra-site sacbes, dated stelae, and ball courts."

    There are apparently two periods of construction represented in the Coba area. The great majority of the remains belong to the earlier period, while the later period is represented by a few buildings distinctly allied to the ruins of the eastern coast of Yucatan. 

The majority of structures obey a compact and carefully oriented plan of assemblage that is based upon a system of related and contiguous courts.

     Architectural decoration was probably for the most part stucco, but with some sculptured stone

     A preponderance of the architectural features of the earlier class of structures find similarities in the remains of the Peten region of Guatemala, but the architecture is of a relatively advanced type

     The expansion of Coba is clearly visible in the physical remains of sacbes, including 50 intrasite roads as well as the longest known Maya roadway, which extends 100 km from Coba to Yaxuna (near Chichen Itza) and a 16 km-long sacbe extending southwest from Coba to Ixil. Folan estimated the area of urban Coba at 63 km² (Folan et al. 1983:196).  

            Although no sacbes connect Coba with the east coast, its ties to the nearby coastal sites of Xelha, Tancah, and Muyil appear to have been strong. These sites show a parallel development during the Classic that reflects both their proximity to Coba and their natural access to the sea for both trade and marine resources.

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