Description
The Tompiro Indians were Pueblo Indians living in New Mexico. They lived in several adobe villages east of the Rio Grande Valley in the Salinas region of New Mexico. Their settlements were abandoned and they were absorbed into other Pueblo Nations in the 1670s. The ruin known as Gran Quivira today but during Spanish times as Las Humanas was the largest settlement and may have had a population of 2,000 people. The Tompiros were distant from the early Spanish settlements in the Rio Grande Valley and not until 1627 was a Catholic mission, headed by the Franciscan Fray Alonso de Benavides, established at Las Humanas.
Language
They spoke a language closely related to that of the Piro Indians
Culture
As village-dwelling and sedentary Pueblo Indians, the Tompiros lived in a marginal climate. They had little surface water for irrigation, rainfall was sparse and sporadic, and winters were long and cold. What made the Tompiro settlements viable was their proximity to salt deposits in the Salinas and to the bison herds of the Great Plains. Thus, they were important traders and middlemen between the Plains Indians and the Pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley for salt and bison skins and meat. The Tompiros also hunted small and large game in the region, especially deer, pronghorn, and rabbits and gathered wild foods, including pinyon pine nuts.