Manuel E. Cortés; Martín Lara; Jaime Zañartu & Hernán Mateluna

This article examines the historical significance of the cupove, a Mapuche ritual specialist described in eighteenth- century sources as performing post-mortem body dissections for diagnostic and forensic purposes. Drawing on a historical-bibliographic review of seventeen primary and secondary documents—including colonial dictionaries, missionary vocabularies, ethnographic reports, and anatomical commentaries—this study investigates the role of the cupove as a precursor to anatomical practices in pre-Hispanic and colonial Chile. The analysis identifies three core functions historically attributed to the cupove: post-mortem dissector, transmitter of empirical knowledge regarding internal anatomy, and forensic agent in suspected poisoning cases. Early chroniclers such as Andrés Febrés and Abbot Juan Ignacio Molina highlighted the use of anatomical terminology and observational techniques by these ritual specialists, who performed corpse openings to establish the cause of death, identify illness, or determine spiritual affliction. These findings suggest the existence of a localised, culturally embedded anatomical tradition before the institutionalization of Western anatomy in Chilean medical schools during the nineteenth century. The study contributes to a more comprehensive and inclusive history of anatomical knowledge in South America by documenting this Indigenous anatomical agent. The cupove exemplifies a culturally grounded diagnostic approach to the human body that, although distinct from academic dissection protocols, fulfilled medically relevant and socially significant functions.

KEY WORDS: Anatomy; Cultural Anthropology; Forensic Medicine; History of Medicine; Indigenous Peoples.

CORTÉS, M.E.; LARA, M.; ZAÑARTU, J. & MATELUNA, H. The cupove as a Mapuche anatomist: Anatomical practices and forensic functions in pre-modern Chile. Int. J. Morphol., 43(5):1503-1507, 2025.