As for differentiating items, I guess you do have to look at things
differently when dealing with anthropological item, but for other historical
artifacts, material culture etc, the items are usually classed by what their
original function or use was. I have provided a couple of definitions below,
I hope that this helps.

From Canadian Parks Service Classification system for historical
collections:
The original function of an object should determine how you classify it, ie
artifacts of material culture all have one thing in common: they were
created for a specific purpose - the original function.

From Chenhall's Nomenclature for Museum Cataloguing:
Every man-made object was originally created to fulfill some function or
purpose and, further, that original function in the only common denominator
that is present in all of the artifacts of man, however simple or complex

An object's primary function must always be taken into account and should
not be confused with other possible or subsequent functions

Example:
A blacksmith's apron will be classified in clothing



Carol Reid
Collections Manager, Archives
Canadian War Museum

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