Archaeologists in Mexico uncovered an ancient Mayan kitchen in the Yucatan Peninsula that officials believe could be more than 12-hundred years old. The 8th century kitchen contained thousands of utensils used to prepare dishes for the mysterious civilization's ruling elite.

Recent excavations in the Kabah archaeological area uncovered the latest find in an ancient residential area for Mayan elite. Complete with thousands of stone artefacts, plates, pottery and a fireplace, the kitchen gives archaeologists a rare insight into the dietary habits of the ancient civilization.

Lourdes Toscano, archaeologist, said, "In approximately this area the fireplace was set up, we can see it is surrounded by flat stones used to grind corn and this is also where we found the most liturgical artefacts, so it's possible we can imagine that close to this area there was a table where they prepared animals for food and they were cooked in this space."

Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History predicts the large kitchen served the ancient civilization's ruling elite and was used to prepare feasts for celebrations.

Lourdes Toscano said, "It's not a common food preparation area because food there was prepared in a large scale as is expected in a royal kitchen."

The archaeological area of Kabah was declared a state park in 1993 and has since revealed clues into how the ancient Maya lived.

The Maya built soaring temples and elaborate palaces in Central America and southern Mexico, dominating the region for some 2,000 years, before mysteriously abandoning their cities around 900 AD.