History writing in Maya temples: Indigenous archives of resistance

Abstract

For centuries, the history of Maya civilization has always been understood through colonial records and Western knowledge systems that often exclude indigenous voices, making them passive objects of inquiry. Dominant paradigms have too often idealized, exoticized, or elided Maya agency, thus perpetuating the myth of a “lost” civilization and projecting indigenous people as remnants of the past rather than viewing them as vibrant communities with enduring intellectual traditions.

 The reconfirmation of historical authorship is particularly pronounced in the embrace of visual and performative historiography. For instance, urban murals in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala City, and San Juan Comalapa have emerged as significant tools for the recuperation of indigenous identity within public spaces. The murals, which are frequently created by Maya artists or collectives, utilize pre-Columbian symbols, ancestral deities, and glyphs to address nationalist discourses that marginalize or commodify indigenous patrimony.

The main objectives of history writing in Maya temples as indigenous archives of resistance can be understood through several angles, including the preservation of Indigenous Knowledge, maintenance of cultural identity, the assertion of sovereignty and legitimacy, and resistance against colonial erasure and Eurocentric narratives.

The main problem behind history writing in Maya temples is the ongoing distortion and appropriation of Maya knowledge by colonial histories, which alienated the Maya texts from their Indigenous roots by interpreting them through Eurocentric frameworks. Thus, the study seeks to answer the following questions: What should be done to counter Eurocentric narratives that distort Maya indigenous history? How can Mayan dynastic records, religious beliefs, and calendrical systems be preserved as living knowledge and world heritage? To answer these questions, the research adopts a historical and analytical approach, drawing on a theoretical framework, and interdisciplinary methods.

The corpus of the study includes indigenous archives of Maya inscriptions, codices, and monumental texts and carvings on stelae, altars, lintels, and temple walls as well as royal chronicles and biographies of kings. Ultimately, the research shows that the transmission of cultural memory across generations is a necessity despite targeted alienation and cultural suppression of Maya history.

The findings reveal the falsified Western view through which Maya history has been seen. Early archaeologists generally considered Maya writings through Eurocentric lens, interpreting them as exotic relics rather than a real living narrative of indigenous defiance. Accordingly, many inscriptions, such as the myth of the "Mysterious Collapse" of Maya civilization, disregarded the continuities in Maya struggle and adaptation. Contemporary scholars should raise their voices to decolonize these distortions, though the loss from centuries of false claims remains thorny.

Key words: Maya civilization; Temples; Resistance; History