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When coastal hunter-gatherers settled inland to begin farming about 3000 years ago in the Atacama desert, their violence became more gruesome, often with intent to kill, according to a study of human remains from the time.

at the University of Tarapac谩 in Chile and her colleagues studied signs of violence in the remains of 194 adults buried between 2800 and 1400 years ago in a coastal desert valley of northern Chile.

The team discovered that 40 individuals were subjected to brutal levels of violence, 20 of whom died from their injuries.

Some bodies still had soft tissue, preserved by the arid desert environment, which offered insight into injuries that would otherwise be unknown. One woman appeared to have sustained a torturous and bizarre attack, her chin鈥檚 skin being stretched to cover her mouth, while her top lip covered her nostrils.

Distinctive tattoos and analysis of strontium isotopes in her teeth 鈥� which can reveal where people lived because the ratio of different isotopes to each other changes based on what they eat and drink 鈥� indicated she was possibly an outsider from southern Peru, which may have caused hostility, says Standen.

All other people from the group subjected to violence, however, were local. Three people were buried naked in a pit without usual funerary offerings and their skulls were smashed, probably by a stone mace. Strontium analyses indicated they ate more seafood, suggesting they were hunter-gatherers from the nearby coast who were attacked by farmers.

Most violence occurred early on when cultivation in the region started, before tailing off as farming communities became more established.

A previous study by Standen that looked at coastal hunter-gatherer violence in the same area before farming took off found only three cases that caused death out of 34 dead bodies showing signs of violence.

鈥淚t was expected that violence would increase with the emergence of horticulture,鈥� says Standen. 鈥淲ith a greater congregation of individuals living a fully sedentary life around scarce agricultural lands and water, it likely increased competition.鈥�

鈥淭his region is one of the driest deserts in the world and thus offers very restricted water sources and fertile lands,鈥� says at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. 鈥淎ll evidence, whether skeletal, rock art, isotopic or weaponry point to the same conclusion: local people fighting over limited resources, which is a common human trait throughout history.鈥�

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