VINOD DANIEL LOOKS AT CEREMONIAL SWORDS FROM INDIA IN SYDNEY, 2000-02-17 (photo)

Vinod Daniel, Head Researcher at the Australian Museum's Materials Conservation Department, looks at two iron sacrificial swords from the early seventeenth-century February 17 which is part of a collection of 33 rare and priceless objects that in a world first will be repatriated to the Indian Government Museum in Madras. The objects, which also includes a bronze scorpion-shaped spoon, brass anklets, wooden carvings, an oil lamp, and cooking and serving tools, are items that were used in everyday life at the time they were collected by an Australian missionary during 1894 and 1934. DG/TAN