Thomas Talbot Waterman (April 23, 1885 – January 6, 1936) was an American anthropologist who studied indigenous groups in North and Central America, particularly Northern California. He is best known for being one of the anthropologists who brought Ishi to the University of California's Museum of Anthropology(later the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology).

Waterman was born in Hamilton, Missouri to John Hayes Waterman and Catherine Shields Church and raised in Fresno, California. Waterman was the tenth and last child born to his family. His father was a member of the Episcopalian clergy, and Waterman was expected to follow in his footsteps.

In May 1905, Waterman was awarded a State of California Scholarship to attend UC Berkeley. Waterman initially planned to study linguistics with a focus in Hebrew, hoping to become a clergyman as his father had. However, after enrolling in a phonetics class taught by Pliny Earle Goddard and assisting with fieldwork on Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages, Waterman developed a strong interest in anthropology. Waterman completed his bachelor's degree in 1907.

According to Susan Marie Wood, after graduating he secured a position at the University of California's Museum of Anthropology working for Alfred L. Kroeber on the strength of Goddard's recommendation. At that time, Waterman's only anthropological training was from the fieldwork he had assisted Goddard with.

Later, at Columbia University, Waterman completed a Ph.D. in anthropology. Kroeber advocated for Waterman's admission to the Anthropology PhD program at Columbia under Franz Boas. Waterman completed his PhD in 1913, afterwards returning to work at the University of California. He remained there in various curatorial and teaching roles until 1921.

Waterman wrote anthropological articles and books on a wide range of indigenous groups in North and Central America over the course of his career. According to longtime colleague and mentor Kroeber, Waterman also had an interest in racial classification.

Shortly after hiring Waterman in 1907,  Kroeber began sending Waterman on field assignments to record indigenous Californian tribes. Between 1907 and 1909, the bulk of Waterman's fieldwork was to make recordings of Kumeyaay songs and ceremonies. During this period, Waterman made connections with California ethnographer Constance Goddard DuBois and field collector Edward H. Davis, who had existing relationships with the Kumeyaay. Waterman also acted as an intermediary between indigenous Californians and A.L. Kroeber in Kroeber's attempts to procure indigenous artifacts for the Museum of Anthropology.

In 1910, Waterman was part of an expedition to the Oroville, California area to attempt contact with the Yahi, or if contact was not made then to find and collect indigenous artifacts, as well as take photographs of the area. Contact was not made on the expedition, but Waterman did find sites of recent habitation and took artifacts from those sites.