In 2016, a multidisciplinary team assembled at Centro Mallqui, in Ilo, Peru, to examine the mummy of a woman who was suspected to have died during childbirth. The body was naturally mummified, and was in a good state of preservation. She was positioned on her right-hand side with her trunk extended and her legs flexed. She demonstrated folds of tissue around the circumference of her body, indicating that she had suffered from widespread edema at the time of her death. Osteobiographic analysis (including direct visual examination and the examination of plain film x-rays) confirmed that she was female, young to middle adult in age, approximately 142.5 cm tall. She had extensive even/flat dental wear exposing the pulp at the center of the tooth crowns. She demonstrated no evidence of early childhood stress. She had two rib fractures, neither of which showed signs of healing, but no other signs of trauma. Detailed examination revealed that the placenta was partially expelled from the vagina and there was (apparently) dried blood on the mat that was positioned between her legs. A placenta may be retained for three main reasons 1) it is trapped behind the cervix, 2) the myometrium failed to contract behind the placenta or 3) when there is a small amount of the placenta adhering to the wall of the uterus, preventing detachment. It is difficult to be sure of the aetiology, but the partial expulsion of the placenta may suggest the third option: partial accreta. The obstetric difficulties would have been accompanied by severe hemorrhaging, amniotic fluid embolism, or infection, in this case likely causing death. It is unclear whether the infant would have survived. However, this poignant moment demonstrates the risks facing expectant mothers in ancient times, and captures what must have been a traumatic event for the social fabric of the community.