Osvaldo Silva Galdames (24 May, 1940–2019) was a Chilean historian active within the field of prehistory.

He was a founder of the academic history journals Cuadernos de Historia and Revista de Historia Indígena, as well being a driving force behind the establishment of the Magíster de Historia con mención en etnohistoria at the University of Chile.

[1] At the same university he served as director of the department for Historical Science for many years.

[1] Among Silva's contributions to history was a proposal for a different chronology of the Inca rule in Chile.

[2] He was born on 24 May 1940, in Santiago, being the son of Osvaldo Silva Rivera and Berta Galdames Ramírez.