Cueva de la Olla

Cueva de la Olla (transl. cave of the pot) is an archaeological site located in the Valle de las Cuevas in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico. It is approximately 47 km southwest of Nuevo Casas Grandes and near the Ignacio Zaragoza Ejido. This site was named for its shape, which resembles a pot (known as an olla in Spanish) or a vase. It is a cuexcomate— a large, barn-like storage structure. Similar granaries were once found in scattered cave sites throughout the Sierra Madre Occidental. Cueva de la Olla is one of the oldest archaeological sites in Chihuahua and Mexico. The Valle de las Cuevas contains a site where evidence of a continuous sequence of human occupation has been found. Human groups that lived in the region cultivated an ancestral variety of maize as early as 5500 BCE. Due to the harsh winters, there was a need to store food. As a result, the inhabitants built a barn, which remains visible today despite deterioration.

Cave data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).