I found this in Wikipedia:
Until about 50,000—40,000 years ago the use of stone tools seems to have progressed stepwise. Each phase (H. habilis, H. ergaster, H. neanderthalensis) started at a higher level than the previous one, but once that phase started further development was slow. These Homo species were culturally conservative, but after 50,000 BP modern human culture started to change at a much greater speed. Jared Diamond, author of The Third Chimpanzee, and other anthropologists characterize this as a "Great Leap Forward." Modern humans started burying their dead, making clothing out of hides, developing sophisticated hunting techniques (such as using trapping pits or driving animals off cliffs), and engaging in cave painting.[39] As human culture advanced, different populations of humans introduced novelty to existing technologies: artifacts such as fish hooks, buttons and bone needles show signs of variation among different populations of humans, something that had not been seen in human cultures prior to 50,000 BP. Typically, H. neanderthalensis populations do not vary in their technologies.
Modern human behavior includes four apects: abstract thinking (concepts free from specific examples), planning (taking steps to achieve a further goal), innovation (finding new solutions), and symbolic behaviour (such as images and rituals). Among concrete examples of modern human behavior, anthropologists include specialization of tools, use of jewellery and images (such as cave drawings), organization of living space, rituals (for example, burials with grave gifts), specialized hunting techniques, exploration of less hospitable geographical areas, and barter trade networks. Debate continues as to whether a "revolution" led to modern humans ("the big bang of human consciousness"), or whether the evolution was more gradual.[40]
Human evolution - WikipediaIt sounds like some scientists think that there was a relatively quick change. There is nothing to say that there was not some sudden brain change and then use of the new brain to invent new tools etc over a relatively short period.
As for the Image of God, I once heard a pastor quote a verse that God will hide us under his pinions. He then said, "So God is a giant chicken." Then he said that God is a spirit and that he uses these images that we can picture. We are not in his physical image (If we were would we have to have feathers?) The image of God is explained in other ways. God breathed his spirit into us (Gen 2) He cut out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. (Isaiah?) We sin, and we die in that day (spiritually - God removes his spirit) We repent, and we are made into his image (and grow in that likeness) As Ecclesiastes ponders, at death the human spirit goes up and the animal spirit does not. He also indicates that many men do not know that and must think that both fates are the same.
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