Located in Vallecito in the municipality of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Forty Houses is believed to be the southernmost site related to the period of Mogollon influence.

Early Spanish explorers named the site Cuarenta Casas (forty houses) based on their speculation of the total number of structures.

[1] 45 kilometers north of Madera During the early 16th century, explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca wrote, "And here by the side of the mountain, we forged our way inland more than 50 leagues and there found forty houses (cuarenta casas).

"[1] The current inhabitation of Chihuahua probably initiated throughout the Western Mountain Range (Sierra Madre Occidental), when native hunter-gatherer groups moved from the north looking for areas with abundant edible plants.

As these settlers dominated agricultural techniques, gradually began occupying the margins of the rivers and originated the Paquimé culture, neighboring what today is known as Casas Grandes, Chihuahua.

The buildings share the typical T-shaped doorways of their northern neighbors and are constructed from adobe and rock with pine logs beams.

[2] It is possible that Cuarenta Casas was a garrison that protected allied groups in the region, in addition to safekeeping commercial routes.

It settlers farmed maize and pumpkin, their nourishment was supplemented with hunting of small species (rabbits) and harvesting of eatable wild plants like acorns, yucca seeds and maguey leaves.

The Paquimé regional center must have had frequent problems with hostile neighboring groups, which explains the presence of many surveillance points in extensive areas.

[2] Constructions date back to that period; at that time the zone was a meeting point for native traders of the Paquimé group communicating with the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California coasts, and to other cultural centers to the north such as Mesa Verde in Colorado and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

[2] It is almost totally destroyed, it lacks ceiling, and remaining walls indicate that its size was larger than others in the cave's back, with similar functions to those of Room 3.

Its overall height was two meters, currently, it is totally destroyed and it is only possible to see remains of the walls in the floor; these were reinforced with dry woven grass and covered with mud.

[2] The remaining rooms were built at the end of the cave, embedded in the rocky wall and it is believed were housing units.

Vestiges of small stoves were found as well as compacted earth steps that lead to the long enclosures that are to the front.

[2] An individual burial was found, perhaps a local leader, it was placed in the small space between the wall and the rock of the cave.

It had a small maize offering, one ceramic pot and a leather bag with pinole, used by pre-Hispanic people of Mexico.