Stacy Kozakavich argues archaeology has much to offer in the reconstruction and interpretation of community pasts for the public. On the other hand, some communities diverged from their principles, as evidenced by the presence of a key and coins found at Kaweah, indicating private property and a cash economy despite claims to communal and egalitarian practices. Shakers, for example, constructed homes with separate living quarters for men and women, reflecting the group’s commitment to celibacy. Archaeological evidence reveals how these communities upheld their societal ideals. Surveys of settlement patterns, the built environment, and even the smallest artifacts such as tobacco pipes and buttons are used to uncover what daily life was like in these communities. Also featured is an expanded case study of California’s late nineteenth-century Kaweah Colony, offering a new perspective on approaches to the study of utopian societies. This volume includes discussions of the Shakers, the Harmony Society, the Moravians, the Oneida community, Brook Farm, and Mormon towns. Utopian and intentional communities have dotted the American landscape since the colonial era, yet only in recent decades have archaeologists begun analyzing the material culture left behind by these groups. Reconstructing the past of intentional communities from across the United States
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