Ocmulgee National Monument has 17,000 years of continuous habitation. The first people to arrive to Middle Georgia were the Paleo Indians around 15,000 BCE during the Ice Age period. After the Ice Age period, the planet slowly began to warm, the large Ice Age animals died off, and the people in Middle Georgia became hunters and gathers (Archaic period); hunting deer and other small game while living a nomadic lifestyle.

Around 1000 BCE the Woodland culture began horticulture with sunflowers, giant ragweed and other grasses and living in small villages. Around 500 CE, corn, beans, and squash were grown in Middle Georgia.

Around 900 CE, newcomers known as the Mississippians came to Middle Georgia building mounds for their elite. The Mississippians thrived here until 1600 when European diseases brought the culture to an end. The people after 1600 became known as the Muscogee (Creek) who were removed from Georgia to Oklahoma by the early 1800s.