Platygonus compressus, also known as the flat-headed peccary, is one of the commonest species of fossil pig in North America. Like modern peccaries, it has a large head with a short snout; the legs and tail are also comparatively short. Unlike Old World pigs, which have upward-curving canine teeth, peccaries have teeth that curve downwards. The first peccaries appear in the fossil record in the Oligocene of North America and until around 7 million years ago they also occurred in Europe. Today they are confined to Central and South America, and the southwestern United States, but during the Pleistocene they ranged from New York west to California, and north as far as the southern edge of the continental ice sheet.

Platygonus was a large peccary, the size of a European wild boar, with a shoulder height of around 28 inches. The most recent specimens have been dated at just under 12,000 years old and the discovery of human artifacts with flat-headed peccary remains suggests that they may have been hunted by the first North Americans.