The earliest evidence of human occupation of the Bartow County Georgia area is the Paleoindian Period (10,000 B.C.) The area's geological attributes, natural resources and favorable climate combined to provide bounty sufficient for large numbers of indigenous peoples. The resulting archeological richness of the Etowah River Valley Region, a 40,000-acre tract spanning the southern third of the county, justified the entire tract being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The first historic documentation came with the 1540 DeSoto Expedition's accounts of the culture at the Etowah Indian Mounds, today a state historic site and public attraction.