Located in the basin of the Galisteo River south of Santa Fe, it was home to a clan of the Tanoan peoples at the time of Spanish colonial contact in the 16th century.

It was abandoned in the aftermath of the Spanish reconquest of the area after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, its people believed to have eventually settled at First Mesa among the Hopi.

[2] San Lazaro is one of a large number of archaeological sites in the Galisteo Basin, a region historically occupied by the Tanoan people.

The San Lazaro complex is one of the largest in the valley, with an estimated two to five thousand chambers in several room blocks on the south side of the river.

Its people were active participants in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, occupying Santa Fe during the interregnum and suffering significant casualties during its recapture by the Spanish.