Goat Camp Ruin Zoom Tour

Join archaeologist Scott Wood for a virtual tour of Goat Camp Ruin, located within the Town of Payson, Arizona, a relatively small but well preserved prehistoric village containing 25+ surface rooms of both full height stone masonry and jacal walls on stone foundations, a central plaza, a number of stone retaining walls and check dams, a large, partial enclosing retaining wall, an earlier (buried) pithouse component, and several roasting pits that are probably Apache. There is also an Apache reoccupation component in several of the rooms. The site originally measured approximately 300 meters by 160 meters and its Classic Period component was occupied at more or less the same time as Shoofly Village. Goat Camp Ruin is mostly owned by the Town of Payson; however, the Tonto National Forest still owns and manages the northern extent of the site complex. The Town proposes to develop this site into a small interpretive archaeological park and point  of interest along the Payson Area Trail System (PATS) in order to provide public interpretation and protect and preserve it for future generations.

The site was occupied by Native people archaeologists call the Northern Salado, a sub-tradition of the widespread Central Arizona Tradition, sometime between A.D. 750 and 1280. It has been known to the historic and modern residents of Payson since the 1880’s and got its name from nearby Goat Camp Creek, an area used historically by local goat ranchers to water their flocks. 

This Zoom Tour is open to the public but pre-registration is required. The Registration Link is:  https://bit.ly/GoatCamp2022