Round Rock is a city in the U. Its population is , according to the census. The city straddles the Balcones Escarpment , [ 6 ] a fault line in which the areas roughly east of Interstate 35 are flat and characterized by having black, fertile soils of the Blackland Prairie , and the west side of the Escarpment, which consists mostly of hilly, karst-like terrain with little topsoil and higher elevations and which is part of the Texas Hill Country.
In a CNN article dated July 1, , Round Rock was listed as the second-fastest-growing city in the country, with a population growth of 8. Of 42 schools within it, 12 were rated exemplary and 11 were recognized. Round Rock is perhaps best known as the international headquarters of Dell , which employs about 16, people at its Round Rock facilities.
The area's earliest known inhabitants lived during the late Pleistocene Ice Age , and are linked to the Clovis culture around 9, BC based on evidence found at the much-studied Gault Site , midway between Georgetown and Fort Cavazos.
The site has been studied for many years and samples carbon date to this particular Pleistocene period around 10, years ago. Prehistoric and Archaic period "open occupation" campsites are also found throughout the county along streams and other water sources, including Brushy Creek in Round Rock and the San Gabriel River in Georgetown, 10 mi 16 km north. The earliest known "historical" Native American occupants, the Tonkawa , were a flint-working, hunting people who followed the buffalo on foot and periodically set fire to the prairie to aid them in their hunts.
During the 18th century, the Tonkawa made the transition to a horse culture and used firearms to a limited extent. Apparently, small numbers of Kiowa , Yojuane , Tawakoni , and Mayeye Native Americans lived in the county at the time of the earliest Anglo settlements. In the late 19th century, Native Americans were being pushed out of Central Texas. As the area developed into a rural Anglo community, some of the modern paved roads followed the original Native-American pathways.
