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Archaeologists have uncovered three Mayancities in Central America's jungles. The cities are around three miles apart, arranged in a triangular shape. The Guatemalan Ministry of Culture and Sports revealed the cities would have been settled between 1000BC and 400BC, during the 'middle preclassic' period. They were inhabited for over 1,500 years until around 900AD, 1,100 years ago.

The ministry said: "The set of these three sites forms a previously unknown urban triangle. These findings allow us to rethink the understanding of the ceremonial and sociopolitical organisation of pre-Hispanic Peten." The Mayan civilisation began around 2000 BC, in what is present-day southern Mexico and Guatemala, as well as parts of Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. The team has called the most important site Los Abuelos, meaning 'the grandparents'. This was chosen after they found two statues at the site of a woman and a man, believed to be depictions of the ancestorsof the city's people.

Thought to have been a ceremonial centre for the area, it has an astronomical complex with buildings positioned to record solstices and equinoxes precisely.

The team believe it to be "one of the most ancient and important ceremonial centres" of the Mayan civilisation in the jungle area of Peten.

Archaeologists also discovered an altar in the shape of a frog and an engraved stone slab known as a stela. In Maya mythology, the frog symbolises fertility and rebirth.

Once the Mayan writing on the stela is translated, it may provide more information about the site and its inhabitants.

Another of the cities, which archaeologists named Petnal, was likely a political centre. It has a 108-foot-tall pyramid with a flat top and a room that houses the remains of murals.

The red, white, and black of the murals can still be seen, but more research is needed to determine what they depict.

A frog-shaped altar was also found there. Frog altars have been found at other Maya sites and are thought to have been used in rituals.

The third city, dubbed Cambrayal, has a "unique canal system" that starts in a water reservoir at the top of a palace. The canals may have been used to remove waste.

Megan O'Neil, an associate professor of art history at Emory University who was not part of the excavation team, told Live Science: "It's especially exciting to learn about the Los Abuelos site.

"The stone sculptures found are especially poignant and are similar to many other examples of Maya people making offerings to vital sculptures and connecting with their ancestors by interacting with sculptures from the past."