Cueva de la Olla

Cueva de la Olla is one of the best places to see how the people of the Paquimé world lived in the mountains. Inside a wide, shallow cave in the Valle de las Cuevas, in the foothills of the Sierra Madre southwest of Casas Grandes, stand the remains of about seven adobe rooms and the structure that gives the site its name: a huge granary shaped like a clay pot.

The granary is about three and a half meters tall and two and a half meters wide, built of coiled grass and mud and rising almost to the cave ceiling. Archaeologists believe it held enough stored food to carry a small community, perhaps around 30 people, through the dry months. The rooms show the same building style as Paquimé, including its characteristic T-shaped doorways.

The valley around it has other cave dwellings, and a stream nearby made farming possible. It is a quiet, remote place with few visitors, which is a big part of the appeal.