The earliest evidence for human activity in Bingham is provided by a flint blade from a field near Starnhill House. This object, lost or discarded around 12,000BC, is thought to be a partially manufactured tool which could be finished to the desired shape when required. It provides important evidence for the presence of small bands of hunter-gatherers, probably ranging widely over the bleak tundra landscape which would have prevailed in this area at the end of the last Ice Age. As the ice retreated and the climate improved, trees such as oak, lime and elm began to colonise this area. By around 7,000BC, the landscape would have been dominated by mixed oak woodland with plentiful wild game, while in some of the lower-lying areas we may imagine extensive wetlands with a wide range of fish, wildfowl and other resources. Such areas would have provided an attractive environment for mobile hunter-gatherer bands - as indicated by scatters of flintwork dating from the early post-glacial period on the surfaces of fields flanking the Fosse Way between the Saxondale roundabout and Margidunum.

There is growing evidence for the clearance of many woodland areas between the fourth and second millennia BC, in the periods referred to by archaeologists as the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Botanical remains preserved in peaty deposits suggest an increasing emphasis upon grassland and a gradual expansion of cereal cultivation and permanent settlement. Structural remains of the Neolithic or Bronze Ages have yet to be recorded, but numerous artefacts of these periods have been retrieved during fieldwalking and excavation. These include several concentrations of flintwork, particularly around Margidunum and the Saxondale roundabout and on Parson's Hill. Finds include arrowheads, scrapers and knives and waste material indicating local manufacture. Evidence for long-distance exchange is provided by finds of polished stone axes. Five stone axes have been recovered from Margidunum alone, including one from the Lake District and another from north Wales. Another notable discovery is of two Bronze Age copper alloy axes with sockets for an organic haft, both from near Margidunum.

Iron Age activity, from c.800BC to the Roman Conquest, is indicated by scatters of coarse handmade pottery on some fields, notably around Margidunum and on Parson's Hill. Air photographs of the latter area show cropmarks of rectangular enclosures, field ditches and possibly timber round-houses, some of which could relate to Iron Age settlement.

More pictures about Prehistoric Bingham can be seen in the Prehistory Photo Library.