Locals have been living in these caves for hundreds of years

Troglodyte habitats survive to the present day in the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape for reasons of identity, custom and because they offer the best weather conditions as opposed to imported models.
Troglodyte dwellings could be natural, making the most of existing caves, or artificial, although in any case they were almost always a transformed space. Within the artificial caves, the cave dwellings usually have a globe-shaped, quadrangular or rectangular floor space, frequently in the shape of a cross, representing a clear example of standardised construction methods and techniques.
The inner walls are carved in straight lines. Apart from a few exceptions, the only gap for ventilation and lighting was the entrance, with pitch-pine doors that turned on a wooden hinge, fitted into gaps in the ceiling and the floor of the cave. The inside was decorated in white, covering the entire room, with footboards painted in red ochre.