Todd L. VanPool

Professor Todd L. VanPool is a distinguished faculty member at the University of Missouri in the Department of Anthropology. His research integrates cognitive archaeology, the study of religion's evolution, and material culture analysis to explore the ancient North American Southwest, particularly the Casas Grandes region of Chihuahua, Mexico, and southern New Mexico. Since 2009, he has directed fieldwork at the 76 Draw settlement alongside Gordon Rakita and Christine VanPool, producing significant insights into social organization, craft production, and shamanic practices.

• BA in Anthropology at Eastern New Mexico University
• Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of New Mexico in 2003

VanPool’s work examines the cognitive structure of religion, focusing on trance-based experiences, entheogen use, and cross-cultural symbolism like the horned/plumed serpent imagery. His analysis of ground stone and flaked stone artifacts reveals connections between technological choices and social hierarchies, emphasizing gender roles and status distinctions in Casas Grandes iconography. He also investigates cross-cultural patterns in non-entheogen-induced altered states through collaborations with the Cuyamungue Institute.

His publications span 3 books, 4 edited volumes, 22 peer-reviewed articles, and 35 book chapters. Recent works address pilgrimage dynamics, ritual architecture, and the interplay of material culture and cosmology. VanPool actively mentors graduate and undergraduate students, integrating them into field projects that have resulted in 7 MA theses, 2 PhD dissertations, and 13 student co-authored publications.

VanPool’s research further explores the evolutionary implications of technological shifts, such as the adoption of the bow and arrow, and methodological rigor in archaeological data collection. He welcomes graduate students interested in New World archaeology, religion-society dynamics, and archaeological theory.