Weston McCool
Assistant Professor
Contact Information
- Office: Bldg 47, Rm 12-K
- Phone: 805-756-1707
- Email: wmccool@calpoly.edu
- Zoom: Email for link
Education
PhD, Archaeology, UC Santa Barbara
MS, Archaeology, UC Santa Barbara
MA, Archaeology, University of Utah
BA, Anthropology, University of Utah
Research Interests
Behavioral ecology, Environmental archaeology, Bioarchaeology, Quantitative methods, Isotopes, Climate change, Conflict, Arid environments, Demography, Subsistence, Health, Central Andes, Western North America, Mesoamerica
Courses Taught
- World History Before Writing
- Elements of Archaeology
- Introduction to Cultural Resource Management
- Bioarchaeology
Publications
2025 Weston C. McCool, Brian F. Codding, Bridgette Degnan, Clair Ebert, Emily Johnson, Kenneth Blake Vernon, Kurt M. Wilson, Timothy Beach, Keith M. Prufer, Douglas J. Kennett. The rise and fall of Classic Maya cities in response to climate, conflict, and economies of scale. Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences (USA) (In-press).
Weston C. McCool, Kenneth B. Vernon, Ishmael D’Angelo Medina, Joan Brenner Coltrain, Kurt M. Wilson, Brian F. Codding. Drought, population pressure, and inequality drive inter-group conflict in the precontact North American Southwest. American Antiquity (In-press).
Amber M. VanDerwarker, Heather B. Thakar, Kenneth Hirth, Alejandra I. Domic, Thomas K. Harper, Richard J. George, Victoria Newhall, Timothy E. Scheffler, Weston C. McCool, Kevin Wann, Brandon S. Gaut, Logan Kistler, and Douglas J. Kennett. Early Locus of Avocado Domestication in the Americas. Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences (USA) 122(10): e2417072122.
2024 Sarah J. Noe, Weston C. McCool, Kurt M. Wilson. A Cross-Regional Examination of Camelid Herding Practices in Peru from 900 BCE to 1450 CE: Insights from Stable Isotopes in Camelid Bone Collagen and Fiber. Plos One 19(10):e0306205.
Daniel C. McCool, Weston C. McCool. Ballot Collection and Native American Voters: An Assessment of Benefits and Costs. American Indian Culture and Research Journal 47(2).
Kenneth B. Vernon, Weston C. McCool, Peter J. Yaworsky, Jerry Spangler, Brian F. Codding. The Fremont Frontier: Living at the Margins of Maize Farming. American Antiquity 89(3):440-458.
Weston C. McCool, Brian F. Codding. U.S. homicide rates increase when resources are scarce and unequally distributed. Evolutionary Human Sciences 6:e3.
2023 Elizabeth Arkush, Weston C. McCool, Ryan Smith. The Late Intermediate period in the south-central highlands: Key problems in timing. In: Leveraging Radiocarbon in the Central Andes: From Chronologies to Research Agendas (Eds., Contreras, D., Marsh, E., Rademaker, K.). Quaternary International 703:8-20.
Peter M. Yaworsky, Kenneth B. Vernon, Weston C. McCool, Brian F. Codding. Goldilocks Zone for maize agriculture and the settlement and abandonment of the West Tavaputs Plateau. In: The Dynamic Influences of Climate Change on Prehistoric Lifeways in the Americas (Eds., Wilson, K.M., McCool, W.C.). Quaternary International 689-690:30-42.
Kurt M. Wilson, Weston C. McCool, Joan Brenner Coltrain. Climatic influences on subsistence intensification along the coasts of the prehispanic Central Andes. Special Issue: The Dynamic Influences of Climate Change on Prehistoric Lifeways in the Americas (Eds., Wilson, K.M., McCool, W.C.). Quaternary International 689-690:79-92.
Weston C. McCool, Amy S. Anderson, Alexis J. Baide, Brian F. Codding. Evaluating the relationships between climate change, population pressure, economic intensification, and childhood stress in the Prehispanic Nasca region of Peru. Special Issue: The Dynamic Influences of Climate Change on Prehistoric Lifeways in the Americas (Eds., Wilson, K.M., McCool, W.C.). Quaternary International 689-690:120-134.
Shane J. Macfarlan, Ryan Schacht, Weston C. McCool, Connor A. Davis, Anahi D. Yerman, Francisco Javier Higuera Landeros, Maximo Amador Amador. Decision-making under climate shocks and economic insecurity: Ranching in rural Baja California Sur, Mexico. Special Issue: Dispatches from the Field. Evolution and Human Behavior 44(5):515-523.
2022 Weston C. McCool, Kurt M. Wilson, Kenneth B. Vernon. Ecological constraints on violence avoidance tactics: An explanation for high rates of lethal and sublethal violence in the Prehispanic Andean highlands. Environmental Archaeology 29(6):562-575.
Douglas J. Kennett, Marilyn Masson, Carlos Peraza Lope, Stanley Serafin, Richard George, Thomas Spencer, Julie Hoggarth, Brendan J. Culleton, Thomas Harper, Keith M. Prufer, Susan Milbrath, Stanley Russell, Eunice Uc González, Weston C. McCool, Valorie V. Aquino, Jason H. Curtis, Victor Polyak, Norbert Marwan, Mingua Zhang, Andrew Mason, Gideon Henderson, Gerald H. Haug, Mark Brenner, Yemane Asmerom, James U.L. Baldini, Sebastian F. M. Breitenbach, David A. Hodell. Drought induced civil conflict among the Maya. Nature Communications 13:3911.
Weston C. McCool, Kenneth B. Vernon, Peter M. Yaworsky, Brian F. Codding. Subsistence strategy mediates ecological drivers of human violence. PLoS One 17(5):e0268257.
Weston C. McCool, Brian F. Codding, Kenneth B. Vernon, Peter M. Yaworsky, Kurt M. Wilson, Norbert Marwan, Douglas J. Kennett. Climate-change induced population pressure drives high rates of lethal violence in the Prehispanic central Andes. Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences (USA) 119(17):e2117556119.
Kurt M. Wilson, Weston C. McCool, Daniel A. Contreras, Simon C. Brewer, Joan Brenner Coltrain, Nicole Zamora-Wilson, Ashlyn M. Huggard, Percy J. Schryver, Roxanne F. Lois Lamson, Brian F. Codding. Climate and demography drive 7000 years of dietary change in the Central Andes. Nature Scientific Reports 12(1):1-16.
2021 Weston C. McCool, Amy S. Anderson, Douglas J. Kennett. Using a multimethod life history approach to navigate the osteological paradox: A case study from Prehispanic Nasca, Peru. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 175(4):816-833.
Weston C. McCool, Joan Brenner-Coltrain, Aldo Accinelli, Douglas J. Kennett. The character of conflict: A bioarchaeological study of violence in the Nasca highlands of Peru during the Late Intermediate Period (950 – 1450 C.E.). American Journal of Biological Anthropology 174(4):614-630.
2020 Daniel F. Fernandes, et al., Weston C. McCool, and David Reich. A Genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean. Nature 590:103-110.
2019 Weston C. McCool, Peter J. Yaworsky. Fight or Flight: Assessing Fremont territoriality in Nine Mile Canyon, Utah. Special Issue: Territorial Behavior and Ecology (Eds., Codding, B.F., Whitaker, A.R., Stevens, N.E.). Quaternary International 518: 111-121.
2018 Weston C. McCool, Joan Brenner-Coltrain. A potential oxygen isotope signature of maize beer consumption: An experimental pilot study. Journal of Ethnoarchaeology 10(1):56-67.
2017 Weston C. McCool. Coping with Conflict: Defensive strategies and chronic warfare in the Prehispanic Nasca region. Latin American Antiquity 28(3):373-393.
2015 Parker, Bradley J., Weston C. McCool. Indices of household maize beer production in the Andes: An ethnoarchaeological investigation. Journal of Anthropological Research 71(3):359-400.
Edited Volumes
In-press Beth K. Scaffidi, Weston C. McCool. Between the Forest and the Trees in the Pre-Hispanic Central Andes: A Synthetic Approach to Assessing Influence of Site Characteristics on Violence-Related Trauma and Immigration. In: Routledge Handbook of the Archaeology of Violence in the Americas (Eds. Ryan Harrod). Routledge, New York City, NY.
2023 Weston C. McCool. Migration, settlement, and warfare in the Nasca highlands of Peru. In: Papers is Memory of Bradley J. Parker (Eds., Kennedy, J., Mullins, P.). Sidestone Press.
Kurt M. Wilson, Weston C. McCool. The Environmental Null: Documenting the changing influence of physical and social environments on prehistoric Andean diets. In: Foodways of the Ancient Andes: Transforming Diet, Cuisine, and Society (Eds., Alfonso-Durruty, M.P., Blom, D.E.). University of Arizona Press.
2021 Weston C. McCool, Daniel C. McCool. We must either protect him or destroy him. In: Vision and Place: John Wesley Powell & Reimagining the Colorado River Basin (Eds., Robison, McCool, Minckley). University of California Press.
2019 Weston C. McCool, Aldo Accinelli, Joan Brenner-Coltrain. Patrones osteológicos de guerra endémica en la Sierra de Nasca durante el Intermedio Tardío (1000-1450 d.C.). In: Actas del VI Congreso Nacional de Arqueología. Lima, Perú: Ministerio de Cultura.