6.5 The Asiatic Melanotic Chicken
111
from Easter Island that varieties of chickens arrived there sequentially, for Metraux (1940:
90) records, “Finally, white fowl – hitherto unknown – began to multiply.” Chickens clearly
arrived at this outpost in the Pacific in a sequence, and the varietal differences record this
sequence (p. 214).
The genetic evidence of Storey et al. demonstrates an archaeological sequence
between early and late sites on Easter Island that confirms Metraux’s historical information and Carter’s suggestion of plural introductions. Carter makes the point that
introductions are most likely to have occurred with “a pattern of intermittent spurts
and delays” because the introduction of the chicken involved the transference not of
a food animal but of a cultural complex in which often the chicken was not eaten
at all.
Because cultural complexes associated with chicken introductions are likely to be
linked to the timings of introductions, to the ultimate origins of the chicken lineages
involved and to diffusion paths within America, study of associated cultural complexes invites attention. Here the work of Carl Johannessen is particularly relevant.
6.5 The Asiatic Melanotic Chicken
The Asiatic melanotic chicken (black-boned, black-meated and black-skinned)
is found amongst Maya-speaking groups in North America, Guatemala and
Mesoamerica and as far south as the Arauco Peninsula in Chile as well as throughout
the Pacific. It is associated with two different cultural complexes, that of cockfighting noted by Carter and that of shamanic and medicinal use, explored in 1982
by Carl Johannessen and Chen Fogg [13]. Johannessen and Fogg show that in the
practice of traditional Chinese medicine both in southern China and amongst the
K’ekchi Indians of Guatemala, the black-boned, black-meated chicken (BB-BMC)
is used to heal a variety of psychic and physical conditions in ways that are astonishingly similar or identical to uses recorded from ancient Chinese traditional medicine
and known also from modern southern Chinese traditional medical practice. In both
traditional Chinese and K’ekchi practice, for example, for asthma and pulmonary
problems “the live BB-BMC is cut lengthwise (sagitally), and the cut sides of the
uncleaned, quivering, halves are bound to the soles of the feet. The chicken is left
there until cold, or for two hours, or for the day depending upon the curer” (p. 81).
In both southern China and in Guatemala the melanotic chicken is used to cure pulmonary problems, evil-eye, fever, pregnancy problems, and, in the form of soup,
to give strength to the post-partum, lactating mother. Eating melanotic chickens as
ordinary food is avoided “out of respect for its wonderful, protective and curative
powers” (p. 79).
In a second paper [14], Johannessen studied the diffusion of this
shamanic/medical complex. He visited Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, Easter Island, southern Chile, the Altiplano and Yungas of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa
Rica and Guatemala. Because Hamp and Olson, linguists studying Mayan languages, had discovered, respectively, that the Mapuche of southern Chile and the
111
from Easter Island that varieties of chickens arrived there sequentially, for Metraux (1940:
90) records, “Finally, white fowl – hitherto unknown – began to multiply.” Chickens clearly
arrived at this outpost in the Pacific in a sequence, and the varietal differences record this
sequence (p. 214).
The genetic evidence of Storey et al. demonstrates an archaeological sequence
between early and late sites on Easter Island that confirms Metraux’s historical information and Carter’s suggestion of plural introductions. Carter makes the point that
introductions are most likely to have occurred with “a pattern of intermittent spurts
and delays” because the introduction of the chicken involved the transference not of
a food animal but of a cultural complex in which often the chicken was not eaten
at all.
Because cultural complexes associated with chicken introductions are likely to be
linked to the timings of introductions, to the ultimate origins of the chicken lineages
involved and to diffusion paths within America, study of associated cultural complexes invites attention. Here the work of Carl Johannessen is particularly relevant.
6.5 The Asiatic Melanotic Chicken
The Asiatic melanotic chicken (black-boned, black-meated and black-skinned)
is found amongst Maya-speaking groups in North America, Guatemala and
Mesoamerica and as far south as the Arauco Peninsula in Chile as well as throughout
the Pacific. It is associated with two different cultural complexes, that of cockfighting noted by Carter and that of shamanic and medicinal use, explored in 1982
by Carl Johannessen and Chen Fogg [13]. Johannessen and Fogg show that in the
practice of traditional Chinese medicine both in southern China and amongst the
K’ekchi Indians of Guatemala, the black-boned, black-meated chicken (BB-BMC)
is used to heal a variety of psychic and physical conditions in ways that are astonishingly similar or identical to uses recorded from ancient Chinese traditional medicine
and known also from modern southern Chinese traditional medical practice. In both
traditional Chinese and K’ekchi practice, for example, for asthma and pulmonary
problems “the live BB-BMC is cut lengthwise (sagitally), and the cut sides of the
uncleaned, quivering, halves are bound to the soles of the feet. The chicken is left
there until cold, or for two hours, or for the day depending upon the curer” (p. 81).
In both southern China and in Guatemala the melanotic chicken is used to cure pulmonary problems, evil-eye, fever, pregnancy problems, and, in the form of soup,
to give strength to the post-partum, lactating mother. Eating melanotic chickens as
ordinary food is avoided “out of respect for its wonderful, protective and curative
powers” (p. 79).
In a second paper [14], Johannessen studied the diffusion of this
shamanic/medical complex. He visited Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, Easter Island, southern Chile, the Altiplano and Yungas of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa
Rica and Guatemala. Because Hamp and Olson, linguists studying Mayan languages, had discovered, respectively, that the Mapuche of southern Chile and the