GOAT CAMP EXCAVATIONS SPRING 2024
Hey Goat Campers!
It's that time again! After a great kickoff session for the season on the 9th, we're ready to continue that success this Saturday, 3/23, starting at our usual meeting time of 0900. We'll work until 1500, as always, with our typical break for lunch at noon. Bring your gloves, your water and lunch, and a jacket cuz it's gonna be a little chilly in the morning. If you have your own tools, that's fine, but if not we have plenty. The weather should be dry for most of the week and partly cloudy on Saturday so no foreseeable problems there (or should I not have said that?). As usual, if you plan to join us, please let me know so I can put you on the list. Hope to see y'all soon!Also, two things: first, we will be joined about 1000 by folks from the Agave House Chapter who will be arriving for a field trip tour of the site. Second, I will be out at Shoofly Sunday morning (probably not until 1000) to do some maintenance work - weed whacking and catclaw removal - if anyone would like to lend a hand and earn some karmic credit as a volunteer for Friends of the Tonto for a few hours.
Also as usual, if you plan to join us, please let me know so I can put you on the list. Hope to see y'all soon!
Here is a schedule for Spring 2024:
Field
March 23
April 6, 27
May11, 25
June 1
Field and Lab
June 8, 9, ?
Cheers and stay safe,
Scott
Scott Wood, retired Tonto archaeologist and Rim Country Adviser, leads the excavations at 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.
Ceramic Checklist First Season Report
Site Map Second Season Report
Master Development Plan Third Season Report
Excavation and Stabilization Plan Fourth Season Report
Goat Camp 2018 Fall Plan Fifth Season Report
Goat Camp 2019 Spring Plan Sixth Season Report
Goat Camp 2020 Spring Plan Seventh Season Report
Goat Camp 2020 Fall Plan Rev Eighth Season progress impeded by pandemic
Goat Camp 2021 Spring Plan Ninth Season Report
Virus Protocol Rev Tenth Season Report
Eleventh Season Report
EXCAVATION
SCREENING CLEANING ARTIFACTS
SORTING AND IDENTIFYING ARTIFACTS
JIM BRITTON STABILIZING A WALL