Anthropologists tell us that people make and use objects for three important purposes: economic, social and spiritual. In the first group are tools, houses, everyday clothing--all those things we need to cope with the environment. In the second, we find objects which identify individuals within a society--a king's crown, coup sticks, convention badges. In the third are such symbolic articles as altars or icons. The total assemblage of these three types of objects made and used by a particular group can provide particular insight, into the economic, social and spiritual life of that group.

The Comanche Indian community of Oklahoma numbers ...