Fruit, Fiber, Bark, and Resin: Social Organization of a Maya Urban Center

Quantitative analysis of 3579 trees recorded in the Classic Maya city of Cob�, Quintana Roo, Mexico, indicates a strong relation between the location and quantity of certain trees producing fruit, fiber, bark, and resin, high-status vaulted architecture, and their distance from the center of the site out toward the fringes. The relationships suggest agreement between the residence pattern of Cob� and Diego de Landa's 16th-century class-oriented description of Maya towns during preconquest times.