Maisières-Canal is an Upper Paleolithic site located on the course of the Canal du Centre, north of Mons in southern Belgium. Two localities have been investigated at the site: Champ de Fouilles, preserved 5 meters beneath the modern day surface; and Atelier de Taille, which makes up the northeastern bank of the canal. Both locations have Early Gravettian occupations, and the Atelier de Taille has an earlier Arignancian presence.
Over 35,000 artifacts ahve been recovered from Maisières-Canal, include 932 stone tools, including asymmetric tanged (pedunculate) points. Also recovered were mammoth, reindeer, bear and arctic hare, all evidencing cut marks. Radiocarbon dates on the cut bone placed the Gravettian occupations at Maisières-Canal between 27950+/- 170 RCYBP (or about 33,000 calendar years ago).
Maisières-Canal was excavated in the 1960s by J. de Heinzelin and P. Haesaerts, and radiocarbon dated in the early 21st century.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Upper Paleolithic, and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Jacobi RM, Higham TFG, Haesaerts P, Jadin I, and Basel LS. 2010. Radiocarbon chronology for the Early Gravettian of northern Europe: new AMS determinations for Maisières-Canal, Belgium. Antiquity 84(323):26-40.
