Chile

As in many countries, physical anthropology in Chile had a number of stages prior to its institutionalization in academic groups and other centres of research, especially museums. These initial stages can be reduced in our country into two parts; the first being a historical or pre-scientific stage from the start of the European conquest of this part of the continent until the mid-19th century, in which chroniclers, travellers, naturalists and others made observations on human variation. The second pre-institutional stage of physical anthropology, although with blurred bound-

aries, was comprised of not only the contributions of foreign naturalists such as Charles Darwin and other scientists, especially medical doctors and assistants to expeditions such as the French missions to Cape Horn, but also Chilean historians and other native or foreign professionals. This stage, which lasted until the middle of the 20th century, was characterized by an increasing interest in prehistory, ethnology, linguistics and other disciplines related to anthropology, which set up the basis for the relationship between archaeology and physical anthropology. Thus, for example, Darwin’s observations about human groups from the extreme southern part of Chile were of limited value to physical anthropology; his theory, however, had an impact on Chilean intellectuals (Manríquez and Rothhammer 1997), stimulating academic discussion, including about the origins of indigenous populations. In this second stage, some Chilean authors to highlight are Diego Barros Arana (1830-1907),

José Toribio Medina (1852-1930), Aureliano Oyarzún (1858-1947), Carlos E. Porter (1867-1942) and Ricardo Latcham (1869-1943) among others, who raised an interest in the human populations that occupied Chile in the past. Among these contributors, the work of J.T. Medina is, as Orellana (1996) points out, the first relevant publication in anthropology (Rothhammer and Aspillaga 1997). Likewise, foreign authors based in Chile, such as Rodulfo Amando Philippi (1808-1904) and Francisco Fonck (1830-1912), produced important contributions. Similarly, the relevant work of the German archaeologist Max Uhle (1856-1944) should be highlighted, since he contributed to the consolidation of archaeological institutions in the country, started bioanthropological collections and promoted the Museum of Ethnology and Anthropology of Chile. Among his colleagues was the German anthropologist and priest Martín Gusinde (1886-1969), who was in Chile at the same time and carried out very important work on the ethnography and physical anthropology of the people of Tierra del Fuego (Rothhammer and Aspillaga 1997).