shamans (e.g., udaghan, udagan, utygan), while the term for male shamans is distinct in each language. Michaelson considered it significant that while few women are depicted in Gwion Gwion art, Tassel figures which appear to be leading ceremonies (the oldest art) clearly have breasts, in contrast to later art which depicts males in the leading roles. Pettigrew identifies elements of Gwion Gwion art with symbols used by Sandawe artists to convey their experience with hallucinogens, and others that seem to show hallucinatory elements. From this he infers that psilocybin-induced trances were a feature of both cultures. However, only a small number of researchers believe that shamanism has been part of the culture of Indigenous Australians. George Chaloupka, an expert on Indigenous Australian rock art, puts it bluntly, "Shamaniacs rule the world at present...It's just another orthodoxy basking in its five minutes of sunshine." Grahame Walsh considered the idea of women shamans in the Gwion Gwion culture "preposterous". Pointing out that women Gwion Gwion images tend to have extremely prominent breasts, Walsh says that the smaller breasts identified by Michaelson are probably chest-band decorations. Destruction Aerial fire-bombing and back burning by the Western Australian Department of Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services since 2009 as part of the government's fire prevention strategy has caused paint to peel from over 5,000 of the 8,742 known examples of Gwion Gwion art. A survey by archaeologist Lee Scott-Virtue has determined that up to 30 per cent of the rock art had been completely destroyed by fire. See also Prehistoric art Indigenous Australian art List of Stone Age art References External links TLS review of Lost World of Kimberley Kimberley Foundation Australia Researching, preserving and promoting Kimberley rock art Bradshaw Foundation Bradshaw Paintings of the Kimberley, North West Australia Rock star of the Kimberley Rock art in Australia Kimberley (Western Australia) Art of the Upper Paleolithic