The objective of this work is to make a historical reconstruction of the anthropological activity at the end of the XIX century in Argentina, focusing on the experience of the three most relevant members of the scientific community: Florentino Ameghino, Francisco P. Moreno and Estanislao S. Zeballos. With this in mind, she studies the rising of the scientific community by analyzing the participation of the above mentioned personalities through their institutional work, their production capacity and their scientific and political actions. The paper tries to contribute to the study of the history of anthropology in Argentina by analyzing the connections between the scientific community and the social context, identifying situations where the interrelations between external and internal factors are outstanding in the shaping of scientific thought.