can you name some pioneering scholars who studied it?
John Lloyd Stephens,  Alfred Maudslay and Teoberto Maler,  J. Eric S. Thompson,  Heinrich Berlin, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, and Yuri Knorozov and others
Maya civilization
The agents of the Catholic Church wrote detailed accounts of the Maya, in support of their efforts at evangelization, and absorption of the Maya into the Spanish Empire. This was followed by various Spanish priests and colonial officials who left descriptions of ruins they visited in Yucatán and Central America. In 1839, American traveller and writer John Lloyd Stephens set out to visit a number of Maya sites with English architect and draftsman Frederick Catherwood. Their illustrated accounts of the ruins sparked strong popular interest, and brought the Maya to the attention of the world. The later 19th century saw the recording and recovery of ethnohistoric accounts of the Maya, and the first steps in deciphering Maya hieroglyphs.

The final two decades of the 19th century saw the birth of modern scientific archaeology in the Maya region, with the meticulous work of Alfred Maudslay and Teoberto Maler. By the early 20th century, the Peabody Museum was sponsoring excavations at Copán a
what was the most important god to the maya culture Death gods what is the geographical area covered by this civilization? It occupied a wide territory that included southeastern Mexico and northern Central America. when did the civilization reach its peak? Classic period  between A.D 250 to A.D 900 can you name some major cities that flourished during this time? UNANSWERABLE were these people ever conquered by europeans? Yes, a Spanish caravel was wrecked in the Caribbean, and about a dozen survivors made landfall on the coast of Yucatán when did the modern academic investigation of this culture begin? In 1839 till 1960s
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Maya civilization [SEP] Investigation of Maya civilization
The agents of the Catholic Church wrote detailed accounts of the Maya, in support of their efforts at evangelization, and absorption of the Maya into the Spanish Empire. This was followed by various Spanish priests and colonial officials who left descriptions of ruins they visited in Yucatán and Central America. In 1839, American traveller and writer John Lloyd Stephens set out to visit a number of Maya sites with English architect and draftsman Frederick Catherwood. Their illustrated accounts of the ruins sparked strong popular interest, and brought the Maya to the attention of the world. The later 19th century saw the recording and recovery of ethnohistoric accounts of the Maya, and the first steps in deciphering Maya hieroglyphs.