ARICA, CHILE—Evidence of violent death has been found on the remains of early farmers who were buried in cemeteries in Chile’s Atacama Desert some 3,000 years ago, according to a Cosmos Magazine report. Vivien Standen of the University of Tarapacá and her colleagues said about 21 percent of the 194 uncovered individuals bore wounds consistent with maces, sticks, or arrows. Many had suffered head wounds, about half of which were likely fatal. Chemical analysis of the farmers’ bones indicates that all of the dead lived locally. Such violence may have been brought on by fights over water, land, or other scarce resources, or perhaps by the emergence of elites who defended their resources, Standen and her colleagues explained. To read about other burials in the Atacama Desert, go to "Atacama's Decaying Mummies."