The site - located within the Balamkú ecological reserve in the state of Campeche, around 1,100km from capital Mexico City - has been named Ocomtún, meaning stone column in the Yucatec Maya language.

Ocomtún, with large pyramid-like buildings, stone columns, a ball field and imposing buildings and plazas, was likely an important city, according to anthropologists.

A previously unknown ancient Maya city has been discovered in the jungles of southern Mexico, the country’s anthropology institute said on Tuesday, adding it was likely an important center more than a thousand years ago.

The city includes large pyramid-like buildings, stone columns, three plazas with “imposing buildings” and other structures arranged in almost-concentric circles, the INAH institute said.

INAH said the city, which it has named Ocomtún — meaning “stone column” in the Yucatec Maya language — would have been an important center for the peninsula’s central lowland region between 250 and 1000 AD.