The ruins of the legendary lost city of "Ciudad Blanca," otherwise known as the 'White City of the Monkey God," has been discovered in dense jungle in the Honduras by a team of a Honduran-American explorers aided by ex-members of the British Special Air Service.
The team made the stunning discovery of the untouched ruins deep in the jungle, said the National Geographic magazine. The exact location of Ciudad Blanca wasn't revealed to protect it from being looted or destroyed.
Archaeologists believe the artifacts found in the Honduran rain forest belong to a civilization thousands of years old. Ciudad Blanca has long been associated with the myth of El Dorado, the City of Gold, sought by Spanish plunderers.
The fabled city, known as the White City of Gold to the Spaniards, was first mentioned in 1526 in a letter to King Charles V of Spain.
The civilization that built and inhabited Ciudad Blanca has not been given a name, however.
The site was littered with stunning artifacts, including ceremonial furniture and statues, said Mesoamerican archaeologist Christopher Fisher, who was with the expedition.
"The undisturbed context is unique," he said.
Archaeologists consider this ancient site in Mosquitia near eastern Honduras an incredibly rare find since it was in nearly pristine conditions and wasn't looted or demolished by the Spaniards. They found at the foot of the city objects associated with important rituals such as stone seats and vessels with animals carved on them.
Archaeologists surveyed and mapped extensive plazas, earthworks, mounds, and an earthen pyramid belonging to a culture that thrived a thousand years ago, and then vanished.
The unspoiled archeological site also has more than 50 public sculptures depicting snakes and vultures.
Archaeologists said the tops of 52 artifacts were peeking from the earth. Many more lie below ground, with possible burials. They include stone ceremonial seats (called "metates") and finely carved vessels decorated with snakes, zoomorphic figures and vultures.
The most intriguing object emerging from the ground is the head of what is speculated might be a "were-jaguar," possibly depicting a shaman in a transformed, spirit state.