...the languages of the Zuni and of the Keresan-speaking Pueblos of New Mexico, from Acoma eastward to the Rio Grande, have not been clearly related to any existing linguistic family. (U.S. linguist Joseph Greenberg, however, grouped the Keres group with the Siouan family to form a postulated Keresiouan macro-group).

The Pueblo people of 1540 inhabit perhaps ninety independent villages along the Rio Grande in the region of present northern New Mexico and northeast Arizona.

Village-dwelling cultivators, they construct multistory apartment houses focused around subterranean religious rooms (kivas).

Political power is vested in religious organizations, and each member of Pueblo society participates in the intense ceremonial cycle that fills each year.

Warrior societies exist in each village, but they are primarily oriented toward defensive actions.