Thomas Wynn is a distinguished professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, where he has taught since 1977. In the 1970s his research opened a hitherto unexplored direction in Paleolithic studies - the explicit use of psychological theory to interpret archaelogical remains. He has published extensively in Paleolithic studies (130= books, articles, and book chapters) with a particular emphasis on cognitive evolution. His books include The Evolution of Spatial Competence (1989), The Rise of Homo sapiens: The evolution of modern thinking (with F. Coolidge 2009; second edition 2018). In 2011, he and Prof. Coolidge established the UCCS Center for Cognitive Archeology, which offers on-line courses taught by world authorities on subjects related to the evolution of human cognition. Beginning of 2013 he worked with noted LA artist Tony Berlant on an exhibition of Acheulean handaxes that celebrates their importance in their evolution of aesthetic sensibility. The exhibition, "First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone," opened at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas in January 2018.