The 20-foot-tall building is 180 feet long and 49 feet wide and, according to authorities at the National Institute of Anthropology and History, was probably used during two overlapping Mayan periods, the Late Classic and the Terminal Classic. That would have been during the height of Mayan civilization, which at various times controlled large parts of what is now Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.

Researchers also found two homes, an altar, and a round oven. They found the items during a dig at Kuluba, a long-ago city in the Yucatan associated with other well-known cities such as Chichen Itza, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Cancun lies a few dozen miles to the east.

The dig at Kuluba is part of an ongoing restoration. The American archaeologist Wyllys Andrews first discovered the site in 1939.