Evidence for prehistoric activity and settlement in the area covered by the modern city of Lincoln has accumulated gradually. Published accounts of the material from Lincoln have treated it as part of a wider study of the county as a whole, while excavations on various sites in the city prior to 1972 had produced a number of prehistoric artefacts, all occurring in secondary contexts. Since these were residual, a distribution map would not necessarily be of any significance, but it is true that the vast majority were found in the lower part of the city, in the vicinity of (or on the bed of) the River Witham.

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