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Desert Foothills (Cave Creek) | Rim Country (Payson)

GOAT CAMP EXCAVATIONS 2026

Hey, Goat Campers (and Bear Flatters)!

Goat Camp

Finally, after nearly a month off, it’s time to get back to work this Saturday, November 7, same time (0900-1500), same place. After dumping a ton of rain on the place over the last few days, the weather looks like it will cooperate and give us a good day for digging – sunny and cool with a high in the 60s. Maybe all that beer and chicken sacrificing finally had an effect on Tlaloc - or he ran out of rain this weekend and needs to get more from that capricious little brat they call El Niňo. As always, if the forecast changes for the worse I’ll let you know, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be working. Our focus will be on Room 8 and exposing more of the floor, finishing the floor in Feature 30 if it’s dry enough, backfilling Room 43, and continuing work on some of the other features that we started last time when it was too wet to work on Room 8. And, of course, stabilization, assuming the moisture conditions on site are OK. If this will be your first time with us, the work site is easy to find. Bring your lunch, gloves, lots of water, sunscreen, maybe a jacket, and wear sturdy footgear. We will have tools and provide OJT.

Bear Flat

We may have a little problem. Tonto Creek is flooding badly. It may be that the gate has washed out, maybe even the crossing itself, in which case it will be a while before the place is accessible again. May be a few days for the water to recede enough to even assess the situation. Stay tuned and I'll let you know if we're able to work next Sunday.Wish luck to the poor folk who got stranded on the wrong side of the creek.

It’s been a long time since we’ve be en able to work on our small excavation at a site on private land in Bear Flat east of Payson along Tonto Creek, but we will be going back there on Sunday, November 8, to see how close we can get to finishing that room. The site is small and appears to consist of one low rock wall founded jacal room. Our last sessions there managed to clear most of the multi-coursed wall and entrance. We’re getting some prehistoric artifacts out of it, but not many. It appears to be filled with undifferentiated and non-stratified flood deposits from Tonto Creek (one major event?), and may still have a recognizable floor, but we still have a lot of fill to remove and a bit of wall to define. We’ll be parking next to the site, so no hill to climb! We’ll probably work a similar schedule to Goat Camp and try to have everyone back to the highway by 1500. Or so.

As always, please let me know if you are coming – and which day(s).

See y'all in a few days!

Cheers,

Scott

Goat Camp Bear Flat

11/7 11/8

12/12 12/13 if needed

Online from April 23, 2022 drone view of Goat Camp

Online from April 10, 2022 “Goat Camp Virtual Field Trip” with archaeologist J. Scott Wood sponsored by Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS), Tucson

Online from June 17, 2021 “The Goat Camp Ruin Project Volunteer Archaeology in Central Arizona” with J. Scott Wood for Old Pueblo Archaeology Center

AAS Goat Camp Tour Sept. 17, 2022

Goat Camp Ruin is located in Payson and was occupied from about 750 to 1280 AD. The site was originally a Hohokam colony that continued to be occupied through the Classic Period. The Classic Period occupation is called "Payson Tradition" or "Northern Salado". After several changes in ownership and extensive pot-hunting, the city of Payson took over ownership of the site. The Rim Country Chapter, with Scott Wood’s assistance, proposed creating an archaeological interpretive site as well as a hiking trail for this 6-acre parcel of land, similar to that of nearby Shoofly Ruin. Scott has led groups of volunteers each spring and fall for the past few years excavating and interpreting areas within the overall complex. The goal is not rebuilding or total excavation, but knowledge and public education through an interpretive package. Shoofly excavation reports are at the bottom of the Rim Chapter webpage.