Archeologists have discovered a large palace likely used by the Mayan elite more than 1,000 years ago in the ancient city of Kuluba, near the modern day tourist hot spot of Cancun in eastern Mexico, Mexican anthropology officials said, according to the Business Times.

The remains of the six-metre high building, 55-metres long and 15-metres wide, suggest the palace was inhabited for two long periods between 600-1050 AD, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said in a statement.

The Mayan civilisation reached its peak between 250 and 900 AD, when it ruled large swaths of what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.

The palace was discovered in the east of the Kuluba archaeological zone, a key pre-Hispanic site in Mexico's Yucatan state.

"This work is the beginning, we've barely began uncovering one of the most voluminous structures on the site," archeologist Alfredo Barrera said in a video shared by INAH.