Image copyright Reuters Image caption Archaeologists suggest the Yucatan people consumed shellfish, chicken and oatmeal to ward off diseases
Clues from the search for the Inca warriors have uncovered how soldiers lived, and how the Inca kings secured currency, jewels and ammunition.
They used beads, nutmegs and shells found at a site at Corinto del Valle, north-west of the Spanish Andes.
Judging by their designs and red-coloured cooking vessels, archaeologists believe the henpecked soldiers used shellfish, chicken and oatmeal to ward off diseases.
The Yucatan people are also thought to have used shells to store food and gold-bearing stones to guide warriors.
Archaeologists have discovered plants and animals collected at the site that are perfect for use as food and decoration.
However, specimens showed they may have also been used to heat food up in portable pots, for cooking, or for cooking medicinal dishes.
Finding a diet of shells, honey and corn, among other goodies, would be a boon for anyone who survived the dusty Andean scrub, researchers say.
“About 40 per cent of the ingredients in some foods were found at Corinto del Valle,” the researchers added.
“At first, we thought about new products or raw materials, then we realised that we found important basic ingredients in artefacts.”
Their study, funded by the Andean Research Center, has now been published in a Royal Society journal.
Once the Yucatan people had established a presence in the Yucatan Peninsula, they would have arranged buildings.
Image copyright Discovery Earth Image caption Areas of the Corinto del Valle site are visible when the scientists compared monuments and landforms from two continents
Up to 1,000 monuments and field-patterned lines have been recorded and recorded in ancient chronicles.
However, only about 20 monuments found at Corinto del Valle have been examined so far.
Image copyright Discovery Earth Image caption Archaeologists say the landscapes found here are shared by both the Inca and the Yucatan
The researchers say their discovery is important for knowing how the Inca people saw the world, and also explains how the palace was built.
The coronation palace of the ancient king Hernando ibn “El Valle” Cerpa, which is decorated with ornate patterns and monograms of great wealth, must have had substantial work to prepare it.
Many of the complex remains today, while others were cleared for agriculture and pasture.