<
p>
Pregnancy complications are poorly represented in the archeological record, despite their importance in contemporary and ancient societies. While we excavated a Byzantine cemetery in Troy, we discovered calcified abscesses among a woman?s remains. Scanning electron microscopy of the tissue revealed ?ghost cells?, resulting from dystrophic calcification, which preserved ancient maternal, fetal and bacterial DNA of a severe infection, likely chorioamnionitis.<
italic>
Gardnerella vaginalis<
/italic>
and<
italic>
Staphylococcus saprophyticus<
/italic>
dominated the abscesses. Phylogenomic analyses of ancient, historical, and contemporary data showed that<
italic>
G. vaginalis<
/italic>
Troy fell within contemporary genetic diversity, whereas<
italic>
S. saprophyticus<
/italic>
Troy belongs to a lineage that does not appear to be commonly associated with human disease today. We speculate that the ecology of<
italic>
S. saprophyticus<
/italic>
infection may have differed in the ancient world as a result of close contacts between humans and domesticated animals. Our results highlight the complex and dynamic interactions with our microbial milieu that underlie severe maternal infections.<
/p>