The presence of archaeological ruins at Acanceh was well known to its modern inhabitants, especially for the imposing size of the two main buildings. In 1906, local people discovered a stucco frieze in one of the buildings when they were quarrying the site for construction materials.
At the beginning of the 20th century, explorers such as Teobert Maler and Eduard Seler visited the site and the artist Adela Breton documented some of the epigraphic and iconographic materials from the Palace of the Stuccoes. More recently, archaeological research have been carried out by scholars from Mexico and United States.