Alligator Effigy Mound

Alligator Effigy Mound
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


Nearest city:	Granville, Ohio
Governing body:	Licking County Historical Society
NRHP Reference#:	71000643 ^[1]
Added to NRHP:	November 5, 1971

The Alligator Effigy Mound is a nationally recognized historic site in Granville, Ohio, United States. A prehistoric earthwork, the mound was likely built between AD 800 and 1200 by the Fort Ancient culture.^[2] An archaeological investigation of the mound conducted by Brad Lepper and Frolking in 1999 recovered a piece of charcoal from the base of the mound. The charcoal was radiometrically dated to 1,000 years BP (about 950 CE).^[2] The mound was not used as burial mound but likely as a ceremonial site. Alligator Mound is one of two known effigy mounds located in the state of Ohio, the other one being Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio.^[2]^[3] The mound is located on privately owned land at the end of Bryn Du Drive, within the village limits of Granville. Effigy mounds were built more often by ancient indigenous peoples of the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin and many have survived there.^[2]^[3]

Early American archaeologists thought the mound represented an alligator. Since alligators are not found in Ohio, some researchers believe the figure represents a local animal, such as an opossum, salamander, or panther.

Lepper suggests that the Alligator Mound is an effigy of an underwater panther, a powerful figure in Native American myth. He thinks that early European settlers misinterpreted what Native Americans told them about the effigy. They were told that it was a fierce creature that lived in the water and ate people, which they assumed to be an alligator.^[4]

In 1971, the mound was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Alligator Mound". Ohio Historical Society. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2412. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
^ ^a ^b "The Licking County Historical Society - Alligator Mound". The Licking County Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2008-08-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20080804112259/http://www.lchsohio.org/alligator_mound.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
^ Lepper, Brad; Frolking, Tod A. (2003). "Alligator Mound: Geoarchaeological and Iconographical Interpretations of a Late Prehistoric Effigy Mound in Central Ohio, USA". Cambridge Archaeological Journal 13 (2): 147–167. doi:10.1017/S0959774303000106. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=187259.

External links

Fort Ancient culture

List of archaeological periods (North America) · Mound builder (people)

Anderson Focus	Fort Ancient Site · Hine Site · Kemp Site · State Line Site · SunWatch Indian Village

Baum Focus	Alligator Effigy Mound · Baldwin Site · Baum Site · Gartner Site · Serpent Mound

Feurt Focus	Buffalo Indian Village Site · Feurt Mounds and Village Site · Hardin Village Site · Leo Petroglyph · Hobson Site

Madisonville Focus	Buckner Site · Clay Mound · Cleek-McCabe Site · Clover Site · Fox Farm Site · Hahns Field Site · Larkin Site · Lower Shawneetown · Madisonville Site · Ronald Watson Gravel Site · Sand Ridge Site · Turpin Site

Related topics · Bone Stone Graves · Bone Mound II · Cole culture · Mississippian culture · Monongahela culture · Oliver Phase · Oneota · Owasco culture · Springwells Phase ·

Pre-Columbian North America

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Archaeological sites	Angel Mounds – Bandelier National Monument – The Bluff Point Stoneworks – Cahokia – Chaco Canyon – Casa Grande – Coso Rock Art District – Eaker – Effigy Mounds National Monument – Etowah Indian Mounds – Eva – Folsom Site – Fort Ancient – Fort Center – Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument – Holly Bluff Site – Hopewell Culture National Historical Park – Kincaid Mounds – Kolomoki – Manitou Cliff Dwellings – Marksville – Meadowcroft Rockshelter – Mesa Verde – Moorehead Circle – Moundville – Mummy Cave – Nodena Site – Ocmulgee National Monument – Old Stone Fort – Parkin Park – Pinson Mounds – Portsmouth Earthworks – Poverty Point – Pueblo Bonito – Rock Eagle – Rock Hawk – Salmon Ruins – Serpent Mound – Spiro Mounds – SunWatch – Taos Pueblo – Toltec Mounds – Town Creek Indian Mound – Winterville

Miscellaneous	Ballgame – Black drink – Buhl woman – Calumet – Chunkey – Clovis point – Container Revolution – Eastern Agricultural Complex – Eden point – Effigy mound – Falcon dancer – Folsom point – Green Corn Ceremony – Horned Serpent – Kennewick man – Kiva – Metallurgy – Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing – Medicine wheel – Mound builders – N.A.G.P.R.A. – Norse colonization of the Americas – Piasa – Pueblo dwellings – Southeastern Ceremonial Complex – Three Sisters agriculture – Thunderbird – Underwater panther

Related: Genetic history · Indigenous Portal of North America · Pre-Columbian era

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

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