David Brainerd Spooner (February 7, 1879 - January 30, 1925) was an American archaeologist and linguist. He was born at Vernon, Vermont. Spooner graduated from Stanford University in 1899. Spooner first went to Japan to the Prefectural College of Omi at Ōtsu, as well as the School of Foreign languages, in Tokyo, and the Imperial University. He was the first foreigner to graduate from the Imperial University with a Literature diploma. He later attended the British Government College at Benares (1901–02) and the Sanskrit College in Benares, (1902–03). Finally, through a Harvard fellowship, he received a Ph.D. from Frederick William University in Berlin, 1906.