Cobá Photographs

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Metadata

Core Title Cobá Photographs

Collection description "Cobá (koh-bah) Mayan for 'Ruffled Waters.'"
"Archaeological evidence indicates that Cobá was first settled between 100 BC and 100 AD, and thrived in the late Maya Classic Period, between 500 and 800 AD, to become one of the largest of Maya cites, with a population of 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. Cobá was built around two broad lagoons and two smaller ones, and was spread over several widely separated sites. The Maya city is best known for its broad-based and steep stone pyramids, containing temples on their top level. One of these, named 'Nohoch Mul,' reaches the height of 138 Feet, and is the tallest pyramid in the Yucatán. Because of that height, 'Nohoch Mul' can easily be seen from the other pyramid temples, poking through the surrounding tropical forest canopy. Climbing the stairway at 'Nohoch Mul,' ascends at a broad platform at the top level, which has a rectangular temple dedicated to the Maya 'Descending God,' or 'Diving God,' which is sometimes associated with the setting sun. The 'Diving God' figure is also found at a few other Maya sites, including 'Tulúm,' located about 40 miles away on the Caribbean coast, which served as the Caribbean port for Cobá in ancient times. Two sculptured stucco figures of that Maya god, with their heads and arms downward and their legs and feet above them in a diving position are mounted on the 'Nohoch Mul' temple’s façade. The most unusual features found at Cobá, are a series of about thirteen raised Maya limestone roadways ('sacbéob') going in varied directions, each was built two to eight feet above the ground and about thirty feet wide. They were constructed with a layer of large boulders, then a layer of rough limestone rocks, then covered with a limestone cement. One is known as a 'sacbé' (sack-bay) singular, and more than one are 'sacbéob' (sack-bay-hawb) plural. One of Cobá’s roadways is more than 60 miles long, connecting Cobá with Yaxuna. Whether they were used for ceremonial or daily purpose, no one knows, but they were clearly used for walking."
"It is likely that the small city of Tulúm was established by the much larger Cobá, as a trading base and trading partner due to it’s location as the only Maya city overlooking the Caribbean, its fresh water supply, protective walls and sandy landing beach. For those reasons, and the local obsidian supply, it was an ideal port for the Maya seagoing canoes, one of which anchored next to the Christopher Columbus’ ship on his fourth and final voyage to the New World in 1502. Columbus noted the event in his log, that his ship was anchored at a small island off the coast of Honduras when a seagoing canoe, which was longer than his ship, approached and pulled up next to him. The canoe was filled with trading goods including, cacao beans, woven clothing, weapons and copper bells, plus friendly men and women and a leader that was protected by a palm branch covering on the canoe. The Indians were friendly and unafraid of the Spanish crew and they traded items with the crew. Columbus took with him one of the Indian men to help guide his ship as they continued to sail along the Central American coast and released him with gifts somewhere during that voyage. That event marked the first meeting between Europeans and the natives of the American mainland and historians agree that the canoe must have been a Mayan trading boat. The Maya were famous as seafaring traders, cruising all along the Caribbean coast, as far south as Belize, and up major rivers to transport goods such as salt, sea shells, cacao, bananas, Quetzal Feathers, jade and obsidian to other Indian settlements. Of added importance for Cobá, in trading, was the presence of local obsidian mines, the sharp black stone used to make knives, cooking implements and weapons. Another link between the two cities was the fact that both Tulúm and Cobá worshiped the Maya 'Diving' or 'Descending God,' which is a large carved stucco wall ornament in the shape of a Maya God in a diving position, with its feet high and its head below. The stucco figure can also be easily seen on the top of temple pyramids at Cobá and prominently displayed over the entrance of a temple at Tulúm." -- Payne Johnson. "See also John Lloyd Stephens, 'Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan,' with numerous engravings. Revised from the latest American edition, with additions, by Frederick Catherwood, London: Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co., 1854. https://digitallibrary.usc.edu/asset-management/2A3BF1QKX7SV5?WS=SearchResults."

Creator Johnson, Payne B. (photographer)

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Date Created 1982-12

Coverage Temporal 1982-12

Place Name Central America (regions), Cobá (archaeological sites), Mexico (countries), North America (continents), Quintana Roo (states)

Subject Archaeological site location (lcsh)

Tags OAI-PMH Harvest

Format 16 photographs (extent), ruins (aat)

Internet Media Type multipart/related

Type images

Source 20210812-johnson-meso-shoaf (batch), Cobá Photographs (subcollection), Payne B. Johnson Latin American Photographs (collection), University of Southern California (contributing entity)

Identifier 2 (box), 0550 (collection number), johnson-cob (filename)