Bringing shape into focus: Assessing differences between blades and bladelets and their technological significance in 3D form

•Cutting-edge protocol for developing 3D meshes of large numbers of small lithics.•Geometric morphometrics enable better framing of laminar technology.•Integration of quantitative shape data to discuss the technological organization of Protoaurignacian lithic technology.•Protoaurignacian foragers relied on stable reduction strategies to produce bladelets.