They were not making expedient tools from whatever material was at hand.

They were selecting specific materials for specific purposes and investing the time required to produce high-quality implements.

The decorative ivory ornament — the fragment of what appears to have been a headband or hair ornament — is equally significant in what it implies.

The production of a purely decorative object, an object whose only purpose is aesthetic — represents a surplus of time and resources beyond the bare minimum required for survival.

Communities in desperate survival mode do not make ornaments.