Pre-Contact Era: 300 -1540

The people of the Galisteo Basin were primarily Tano, or southern Tewa, which refers to a language group that is culturally extinct today. The Tano shared many of the customs and beliefs with other pueblos, but linguistically most resembled Tiwa, Piro, and Jemez. This area has always been a middle ground between the nomadic, buffalo-hunting tribes of the Great Plains, and the sedentary, agrarian tribes of the Rio Grande and Colorado Plateau. The Tanoan language was also related to the language spoken by the Apache and Comanche tribes with whom they both traded and fought.

During the pre-ceramic and early Basketmaker periods (AD 400-600 and before), hunters camped in the San Cristobal drainage during fall and winter. Later, people favored tillable areas near permanent water and with nearby mesa-top views, which may indicate the variable nature of their relationship with their Apache neighbors.

Although at least one permanent settlement was built beside the Santa Fe River between AD 850 and 950, the population boomed in the Galisteo Basin around AD 1250, and many sites such as Piedra Lumbre, San Cristobal and Pueblo Largo were established. These sites featured rectangular roomblocks built of stone and adobe, and kivas. Pottery found in the area includes Red Mesa Black- on-white, Galisteo Black-on-white, Chupadero Black-on- white, Lino gray and Peña Blanca gray. San Cristobal was apparently a trade center for a popular glaze ware. The reasons for population growth during this period remain poorly understood.

During the two centuries before the Spanish entrada, the population in the Galisteo Basin continued to grow. San Marcos Pueblo became a major trade center for the region, featuring roomblocks around a central plaza where the kivas were also located. Inhabitants constructed an irrigation reservoir.

The people of the Galisteo gathered into increasingly large settlements. AD 1425 seems to have been a drought year with particularly scarce resources. The pottery from this period is increasingly colorful and diverse.

The Plains Jumano Indians hunted buffalo on the llanos of west Texas and met other hunters from southeastern tribes like the Caddo. They took the buffalo hides, meat, shells, pecans, Osage orange wood for bows, and other products they had obtained through hunting and trade with southeastern tribes to the Pueblos for barter. The Pueblo villages traded mineral pigments, turquoise, other gem stones, salt, textiles, pottery and agricultural products for these items. The Jumano also traded with the Spaniards for their metal items and horses.