Arroyo Seco is part of the heart of the Sierra Gorda. This region has been occupied for about 6000 years. In the Pre Classic and Classic periods, the Sierra Gorda had a number of small cities as the climate at that time was wetter than it is now. Most of the larger cities were south of the current municipalities due to mining activities and major trade routes, but there were cities and trade routes through here as well, connecting the area mostly with Huasteca areas to the east and other areas to the north. As the climate of the Sierra Gorda dried out in the early Post Classic period, cities were abandoned for simpler hunter gatherer communities and there were migrations of Chichimecas, mostly Pames and Chichimeca Jonaz from the north. Arroyo Seco would become Pame territory. In the late pre Hispanic period, the Sierra Gorda had incursions from both the Purépecha and Aztecs from as early as 1400, attracted by the area's mineral deposits, but neither had true dominance as the Chichimecas fiercely opposed them. In the 15th century, the area was marginally dominated by the Oxitipa dominion, which was conquered by Moctezuma Ilhuicama and the Pames. This officially converted the area into an Aztec tributary state, but the Aztecs never truly had control.