Supposedly the Homo Sapien branch of the tree of life emerged ~200,000 years ago (some sources think nearer to 300,000). And equally supposedly, they were in essence physically identical to modern humans, which, among other things, means an equally developed brain. So they would have had the same intellectual capacity as we do today.
Which is why I am disinclined to believe that after 160,000 years, this was the best early modern humans could do. I am more inclined to believe they made art even more sophisticated than this long before this but either it didn’t survive or we simply haven’t yet dug in the right places.
It bears mention that Gobekli Tepe wasn’t unearthed until 1995. And Gobekli Tepe proved that the African diaspora occurred at least 5000 years earlier than previously thought. So if an entire city could remain hidden for that long, how elusive might the odd piece of jewelry be?
Sorry, I meant Catalhoyuk, not Gobekli Tepe.
The early archaeological sites of ancient cities in the Middle East came long after modern human migrations into Eurasia.