“…Twentieth-century ethnography shows that flywhisks were not used in any contexts other than the medicine dance (Lee 1967, 31;Marshall 1969, 358;Lewis-Williams & Pearce 2004, 88). Although the positioning in both the Malilangwe and Mpumalanga paintings may simply illustrate flywhisks attached to waistbands or placed in (unseen) bags, it is more likely that, given the clearly depicted overall ritual context of the images, their placement is related to concepts of supernatural potency and somatic experiences (Pearce 2009, 339; see also Eastwood 1999). For the San, the lower back and the belly -both of which are 'penetrated' by flywhisks in numerous paintings -are important parts of the body during the dance: supernatural potency enters the dancers' bodies through their backs (Lee 1967, 31), and, as the dancers approach a climactic altered state and metaphorical 'death', potency boils in their bellies and rises up their spines to their heads where it 'explodes' (Lee 1967, 31).…”