Two ancient Mayan cities have been discovered in the dense jungle on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
The remains of one city, called Laguinita, include a large, intricate doorway that features the mouth and fangs of a monster.
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Expedition leader Ivan Sprajc, of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts,
discovered the Mayan cities, Discovery News reported. Sprajc and his team were exploring the area near another Mayan city that was found in 2013 by a Slovenian archaeologist.
It's not the first time the monster gate of Laguinita as been visited, though. American archaeologist Eric Von Euw drew the doorway during a visit in the 1970s, but the exact location of the Mayan city remained unknown until now, Discovery News noted.
"In the jungle you can be as little as 600 feet from a large site and do not even suspect it might be there; small mounds are all over the place, but they give you no idea about where an urban center might be," Sprajc told Discovery News.
In the second Mayan city Sprajc discovered, called Tamchen, more than 30 underground chambers used for collecting rainwater were found, Discovery News said. The name of the city means "deep well" in Yucatec Maya.
Tamchén and Lagunita were at their peak around 600-1000 AD, The Yucatan Times reported.
Both Mayan cities were found to have plazas, large palace-like buildings, and a pyramid temple.
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