Thomas G. Wynn

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Thomas G. Wynn is an American archaeologist known for his work in cognitive archaeology. He is a pioneer of evolutionary cognitive archaeology; his article "The intelligence of later Acheulean hominids" (Man, 1979) is considered a classic in the field.[1][2] He taught at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs from 1977 to 2022,[3] where he now holds the title Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

Education[edit]

Wynn completed his doctorate in anthropology in 1977 at the University of Illinois, Urbana under the supervision of anthropologist Charles M. Keller. The project used Piagetian psychological theory to document cognitive evolution as represented in the change in form of stone tools; the work was ultimately published as a book, The Evolution of Spatial Competence, in 1989.[4]

Research[edit]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Wynn worked on archaeological projects in Europe and Africa, directing the first systematic archaeological field work in the Mbeya Region of Tanzania in 1976 and 1980.[3] To date, he has published over 150 articles, chapters, and books in Palaeolithic studies, with a particular emphasis on cognitive evolution.[3]

With his colleague Frederick L. Coolidge, Wynn developed the Enhanced Working Memory Hypothesis (EWMH), which proposes that a small but heritable change in executive functioning may have been the reason why Homo sapiens persisted and flourished, while cousin species like the Neandertals went extinct.[5][6][7][8][9] With his colleagues Frederick L. Coolidge and Karenleigh A. Overmann, Wynn has written about the cognitive differences between Neandertals and contemporary Homo sapiens and the implications for Neandertal extinction.[10][11][12]

In 2011, Wynn and his colleague, psychologist Frederick L. Coolidge, established the Center for Cognitive Archaeology at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.[3] In 2013, Wynn began working with LA artist Tony Berlant on an exhibition of Acheulean handaxes that celebrated their importance in the evolution of aesthetic sensibility.[13][14] Entitled "First Sculpture", the exhibit was mounted at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, in 2018 and published as a volume the same year.[15][16][17][18][19] Wynn and Berlant continued to collaborate on Mimbres painting, with an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and associated publication in 2018.[20]

Honors[edit]

In 2008, Wynn was awarded funding to organize the 139th Numbered Wenner-Gren Symposium, which was co-chaired by psychologist Frederick L. Coolidge. Entitled "Working Memory: Beyond Language and Symbolism," the proceedings were published as a special issue of Current Anthropology.[21]

In 2014, Wynn was appointed University of Colorado Distinguished Professor in recognition of his contributions to cognitive archaeology.[3][22]

Selected works[edit]

Authored books[edit]

  • Wynn, Thomas (1989). The Evolution of Spatial Competence. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252060304.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L. (2012). How to Think like a Neandertal. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199742820.
  • Berlant, Tony; Wynn, Thomas (2018). First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone. Nasher Sculpture Center. ISBN 9780991233878.
  • Coolidge, Frederick L.; Wynn, Thomas (2018). The Rise of Homo sapiens: The Evolution of Modern Thinking (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190680916.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L. (2022). An Introduction to Evolutionary Cognitive Archaeology. Routledge. ISBN 9780367856953.

Edited volumes[edit]

  • De Beaune, Sophie A.; Coolidge, Frederick L.; Wynn, Thomas, eds. (2009). Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521769778.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L., eds. (2017). Cognitive Models in Palaeolithic Archaeology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190204112.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Overmann, Karenleigh A.; Coolidge, Frederick L., eds. (2024). The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192895950.

Special journal issues[edit]

  • Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L., eds. (2010). "Working Memory: Beyond Symbolism and Language". Current Anthropology. Wenner-Gren Symposium Series. 51 (S1). University of Chicago Press.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Overmann, Karenleigh A.; Malafouris, Lambros, eds. (2021). "4E Cognition in the Lower Palaeolithic". Adaptive Behavior. 29 (2).

Articles[edit]

Book chapters[edit]

  • Wynn, Thomas (2004). "Evolutionary Developments in the Cognition of Symmetry". In Washburn, Dorothy Koster (ed.). Embedded Symmetries, Natural and Cultural. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 9780826331526.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L. (2007). "Did a Small but Significant Enhancement in Working Memory Capacity Power the Evolution of Modern Thinking?". In Paul, Mellars; Boyle, Katie; Ofer, Bar-Yosef; Christopher B, Stringer (eds.). Rethinking the Human Revolution: New Behavioural and Biological Perspectives on the Origin and Dispersal of Modern Humans. McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. ISBN 9781902937465.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L. (2009). "Implications of a Strict Standard for Recognizing Modern Cognition in Prehistory". In De Beaune, Sophie A.; Coolidge, Frederick L.; Wynn, Thomas (eds.). Cognitive Archaeology and Human Evolution. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521769778.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L. (2010). "How Levallois Reduction Is Similar to, and Not Similar to, Playing Chess". In Nowell, April; Davidson, Iain (eds.). Stone Tools and the Evolution of Human Cognition. University of Colorado Press. ISBN 9781607321354.
  • Wynn, Thomas; Haidle, Miriam Noël; Lombard, Marlize; Coolidge, Frederick L. (2017). "The Expert Cognition Model in Human Evolutionary Studies". In Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L. (eds.). Cognitive Models in Palaeolithic Archaeology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190204112.
  • Wynn, Thomas (2019). "Epilogue: Situating the Cognitive in Cognitive Archaeology". In Overmann, Karenleigh A.; Coolidge, Frederick L. (eds.). Squeezing Minds from Stones: Cognitive Archaeology and the Evolution of the Human Mind. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190854614.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Overmann, Karenleigh A; Coolidge, Frederick L (2019). "Cognitive Archaeology at the Crossroads". In Overmann, Karenleigh A; Coolidge, Frederick L (eds.). Squeezing Minds from Stones: Cognitive Archaeology and the Evolution of the Human Mind. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–12. ISBN 9780190854614.
  2. ^ Tryon, Christian (2013). "Testing Models of Modern Human Origins with Archaeology and Anatomy". Nature Education Knowledge. 4 (3): 4. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Thomas Wynn, Ph.D." University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  4. ^ Wynn, Thomas (1989). The Evolution of Spatial Competence. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252060304.
  5. ^ Coolidge, Frederick L; Wynn, Thomas (2001). "Executive Functions of the Frontal Lobes and the Evolutionary Ascendancy of Homo sapiens". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 11 (3): 255–260. doi:10.1017/S0959774301000142.
  6. ^ Coolidge, Frederick L; Wynn, Thomas (2005). "Working Memory, Its Executive Functions, and the Emergence of Modern Thinking". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 15 (1): 5–26. doi:10.1017/S0959774305000016.
  7. ^ Balter, Michael (2010). "Does 'Working Memory' Still Work?". Science. 328 (5975): 162. doi:10.1126/science.328.5975.162. PMID 20378789. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  8. ^ Balter, Michael (2019). "Did Working Memory Spark Creative Culture?" (PDF). Retrieved June 5, 2021.
  9. ^ Wurz, Sarah (2012). "The Transition to Modern Behavior". Nature Education Knowledge. 3 (10): 15. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  10. ^ Wynn, Thomas; Overmann, Karenleigh A; Coolidge, Frederick L (2016). "The false dichotomy: A refutation of the Neandertal indistinguishability claim". Journal of Anthropological Sciences. 94 (94): 201–221. doi:10.4436/jass.94022. PMID 26708102.
  11. ^ Coolidge, Frederick L.; Wynn, Thomas; Overmann, Karenleigh A. (2024). "The Expert Neandertal Mind and Brain, Revisited". In Wynn, Thomas; Overmann, Karenleigh A.; Coolidge, Frederick L. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Archaeology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192895950.
  12. ^ Bower, Bruce (2004). "In the Neandertal Mind: Our Evolutionary Comrades Celebrated Vaunted Intellects before Meeting a Memorable Demise". Science News. 166 (12): 183–184. doi:10.2307/4015497. JSTOR 4015497. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  13. ^ "The Oldest Drawing in the World Has Been Discovered—But Is It Art?". 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  14. ^ "Thomas Wynn: Aesthetics Before Art: Antecedents of the Artistic Mind (TED Talk)". 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  15. ^ Berlant, Tony; Wynn, Thomas (2018). First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone. Dallas, TX: Nasher Sculpture Center. ISBN 9780991233878.
  16. ^ "First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone at the Nasher". 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  17. ^ "Art This Week interviews Tony Berlant and Thomas Wynn". 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  18. ^ Farago, Jason (2018). "Was Australopithecus an Artist?". The New York Times. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  19. ^ "Thomas Wynn interview on "First Sculpture" exhibit, The Modern Art Notes Podcast, Episode no. 330". 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  20. ^ Berlant, Tony; Maurer, Evan; Burtenshaw, Julia; Wynn, Thomas (2018). Decoding Mimbres Painting. Los Angeles: LA County Museum of Art. ISBN 9783791357430.
  21. ^ Wynn, Thomas; Coolidge, Frederick L (2010). "Working Memory: Beyond Symbolism and Language". Current Anthropology. 51 (S1). doi:10.1086/650526. S2CID 142942270.
  22. ^ "Wynn joins ranks of CU distinguished professors". University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. November 20, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2021.

External links[edit]

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