I would like to mention about the Indigenous Huichole Indians that inhabit the region. Because on my maternal grandparents side, my maternal grandfather has Huichole ancestry. But his wife, my maternal grandmother has Spanish ancestry.
In our pueblo of Huejuquilla El Alto, Jalisco, Mexico, a Belgium Arqeologist by the name of Marie Areti Hers - did an excavation in 1976 at a mountain right at Huejuquilla, and the mountain is called, "Cerro De Huistle (Huiztle." What she found was a Toltec grave site dated back to 100 A.D.
So the Toltecs were present and after the Toltecs, The Chichimeca Indigenous Tribe was in the area. In Zacatecas, there are pyramids called, "La Quemada."
When the spanish arrived to the area, it was "El Capitan Miguel Caldera" and "Nuno De Guzman" expedition. As she states here:
http://coljal.edu.mx/Revista/71/tradicion.pdf
http://maya.csuhayward.edu/archaeoplanet/LgdPage/Chacmool.htm
So that might be of some help. What I am curious about is what is the name of the ship/galleon that Capitan Miguel Caldera sailed on to Mexico??
Currently the Huichole Indigenous tribes live in villages that are farther out in the remote areas like Santa Catarina. Some come down from the remote areas and hang out in pueblos like Huejuquilla, Mezquitic and others to sell arts and crafts.
Here is an indigenous website of the area:
http://www.puebloindigena.com/portal/
One pueblo near the Huejuquilla, Jalisco area is called, "Tenzompa." Tenzompa existed even during pre-colombian times.
Now also there are the Mennonites in the Zacatecas region. They have two colonies, "La Batea and La Honda," in Zacatecas. They have about three generations in the area.
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Indigenous people of Northern Jalisco, Southern Zacatecas
Antonio:
Some comments and answers to your questions:
The archealogical site at La Quemada is a late Classical site and has many aspects which point to it being part of the greater Toltec civilization. Thus at one point, highly civilized Mesoamerica went as far north as Zacatecas.
There is no ethnic group called Chichimeca, rather it was a term used by the Mexica (Aztecs) to generally describe the bellicose and nomadic tribes north of their Empire. The Spanish adopted the term because, as they were warned, these people were very difficult to placate. There was a 40 year war in Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi against alliances of the Chichimeca (Zacatecas, Guachichiles, etc.) before the Spanish crown decided to "buy" the peace.
Miguel Caldera never "arrived" to the area and never sailed on a ship from Spain. He was born in what later became the city of Zacatecas to a Spanish father (Pedro Caldera) and a Guachichil woman (Maria). He had a sister named Maria Cid that has lots of descendancy in the area around Colotlan and Jerez.
The correct terms for the indigenous group you are talking about are Wixarritari (what they call themselves) or Huichol (Spanish), not Huichole.
The ethnic groups present in Mezquitic at the time of Spanish arrival were Tepehuanes (Tepecanos) and perhaps Zacatecas. The Spanish brought Tlaxcaltec colonizers to the area in 1591. The Wixarritari are believed to be the descendants of the Guachichil survivors of the great Chichimeca War who retreated to the most remote mountain regions then inhabited by the Tepehuanes.