Scientific networks played an important role in the construction of Belgian prehistory. Among the emblematic figures of the European prehistoric scene was Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet. In the years that followed his return from exile, the relations which the French prehistorian wove with the Belgian intelligentsia developed continuously. It reached its climax during the organization of the Congrès d’Anthropologie et d’Archéologie préhistoriques held in Brussels in 1872. Indeed, the latter placed Belgian prehistoric researches at the front of international science. Afterward the relations of Gabriel de Mortillet with Belgium continued on a permanent basis. In 1891, during his trip to Belgium with his students of the École d’Anthropologie de Paris, he met a large part of the Belgian prehistorians. Therefore, this article aims to seek the construction of Gabriel de Mortillet’s Belgian network and its impact on the young prehistoric science of Belgium.
