International audience ; Between around 29.000 and 21.000 BP, Europe was occupied by human societies whose archaeological traces are gathered within the Gravettian entity. However, several authors are now openly questioning the unity of the Gravettian, and one of the key aspects of these debates is the supposed formation period of the Gravettian, that is to say the period covering the disappearance and replacement of the traditions related to the Aurignacian around 29.000-28.000 BP. Dated to around 28.000 BP (De Heinzelin, 1973a, p. 45; Haesaerts and Damblon, 2004; Jacobi et al., 2010), the main occupation of Maisières-Canal (Belgium) is clearly relevant to the period. For a long time, the site’s lithic industry has been recognized for its peculiarities, most notably numerous points with flat retouch and tanged tools. The industry was therefore the key factor in the definition of the Maisierian, which is sometimes seen as a “tradition” (Campbell, 1980) or a “culture” (Dewez, 1989) that has no link with the Gravettian itself. On the other hand, some have postulated that the Maisierian simply represents a northern variation of Early Gravettian industries, possibly as the origin of the industries with Font-Robert points from South-West France (former Perigordian Va; De Heinzelin, 1973a, p. 54; Otte, 1976 and 1979b, p. 632; Desbrosse and Kozłowski, 1988, p. 47). The difficulties in the classification of Maisières-Canal illustrate its importance for understanding the period covering the development of the Gravettian. However, although previous research on Maisières-Canal’s lithic industry has focused on typological, technological and functional aspects, as well as raw materials provisioning, little has been done to characterize the lithic technical system and the chaînes opératoires followed to produce lithic tools. Maisières-Canal was discovered in 1966 during enlargement work of the “canal du Centre” near the village of Maisières and the city of Mons, and was excavated between 1966 and 1967. Two distinct areas were ...