Serpent Mound is an earthen effigy on a ridge near Peebles in Adams County, southern Ohio. Its winding body and curled tail form the shape of a snake across the ground. The Ohio History Connection, which manages the site, calls it an internationally known National Historic Landmark built by American Indian cultures of Ohio. The mound is not a stone monument with a single viewing face: its form becomes clearer as visitors walk the path and follow its curves. That experience is part of the site’s meaning, not simply a route to a photograph.
The setting matters. The earthwork occupies a bluff above a valley in a landscape that also contains other prehistoric earthworks and burial mounds. Three nearby burial mounds are attributed by the site manager to two different traditions: two to the Adena culture and one to Fort Ancient. Their proximity gives the area archaeological depth, but it does not prove that the same people built the serpent effigy. The distinction is important because early interpretations often assigned the mound to the culture best represented by nearby remains.