Are you thinking that maybe, it was with the advent of culture that humans were imparted a soul?
Well, more like it was with the advent of the soul that humans were imparted culture.
This creative explosion sounds to me more like an acceleration of culture uptake; since culture was present in other hominids, such as the neandertals.
Got any ideas for a cause of the acceleration of culture uptake? This coul very well be true and still be the result of us receiving the soul.
They even had burial rituals. Who knows? They may have also found religion.
I would say that they (Neandertals) did have religion, in some rudimentary form. Nothing really oranized like we have today, but definately some beliefs in non-naturalistic causes of things they didn't understand.
While i still haven't made my mind up as to the existence of a soul, a point to consider is whether or not humans are the only animals with a soul.
My belief is that we are the only animals with souls. The Bible says that we were created in god's image, gave us the breath of life, he gave us rule over the other animals, and he took our form(Jesus) to save us specifically. To me it really seems like I have a soul and I think I can feel it, although its kinda weird and hard to describe. And on top of that, I see no indication that any of the other animals have a soul.
Other religions don't feel this way. Many schools of Hinduism, posit the existence of a soul in all life-forms. So this could lead back to whether or not the Bible has the idea of a humans-only soul correct.
Yeah, I think it does. And I don't recall any teachings of Jesus that suggest that other animals have souls.