Alligator Effigy Mound

The Alligator Effigy Mound is located in Granville, Ohio, atop a hill overlooking the Raccoon Creek valley. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is accessible to the public, though as a protected archaeological site it should not be disturbed or climbed on.

Many archaeologists believe the effigy does not depict a real alligator, since alligators are not native to Ohio and would have been unfamiliar to the region's prehistoric peoples. Alternative interpretations include a panther, a lizard, or an underwater panther from Woodland-period mythology, though the historical name persists.

The mound is attributed to Indigenous peoples of the Woodland tradition, with effigy mound-building in the Upper Midwest generally associated with the Late Woodland period, roughly 500–1200 CE. It is one of the few animal-shaped effigy mounds found outside the main effigy mound concentration in southern Wisconsin.

Both are prehistoric earthen effigy mounds in Ohio, but they differ in size, age, and cultural attribution. Serpent Mound in Adams County is the largest serpent effigy in the world at approximately 411 meters long, while the Alligator Mound in Granville is much smaller, and the two are separated geographically and possibly chronologically.