This article begins with a brief review of current approaches to the study of discarded stone flakes in Europe, from a broad-based techno-stylistic point of view. The practice of splitting the relative breadth distribution of flakes in a waste assemblage into a series of classes beyond that of blades and flakes is regarded as particularly promising, and the results of multivariate analyses on data prepared in this way for sites in southern England and northern Italy (mainly post-glacial in date) are presented. Where possible, for the Italian sites comparisons are made between the results of these studies and similar analyses of the retouched tools. In conclusion, a plea is made to workers in this field to adopt standard conventions, so that pan-European studies becorne feasible. -- AATA