Nothingness by definition wouldn't have a presence.
IIRC, the consensus on the big bang is that there were previous bangs trough which particles consolidated and the Big bang was caused. So maybe there was something, after all the Big Bang was the beginning of the universe not of existence.
Yeah I've heard that before, I didn't think that was the consensus though, rather the Big Bang was the beginning of everything, not just our universe, since the universe by definition is the totality of everything that exists. What the space in between them is still is undetermined.
If we are ever going to find out, we need to do this step by step, and I believe the most important question on this matter, is whether the Big Bang, was caused, or uncaused.
How one would go about investigating that, beats the hell out of me.
You forget dark matter and energy, which can only be measured when it interacts with particles. Sounds like nothingness to me, plus there are new theories about the multiverse and what physically separates these universes.