Archaeologists Reveal What Being Pregnant As a Viking Was Like
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Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A new study has offered a glimpse of the stark reality of pregnancy in the Viking Age, via an analysis of art and literature from the period.
The analysis is based on multidisciplinary evidence and the examination of words and stories used to depict pregnancy in later Old Norse sources.
This evidence depicts pregnant women as being adorned with martial gear, ready for combat. A surviving singular Viking Age figurine convincingly displays a pregnant body wearing a martial helmet.
The artefact, which was found in a 10th century, Swedish burial for a woman, buried with a rich and varied artefacts assemblage as well as animals, is the only known depiction of pregnancy from the Viking Age.
Newborns, meanwhile, appear to have been born into a harsh world. Burial evidence linked to potential victims of obstetric deaths suggests not all infants who died early received proper burials or were even born free.
Pendant showing the only known Viking-Age depiction of a pregnant body.
Pendant showing the only known Viking-Age depiction of a pregnant body.
O. Myrin, The Swedish History Museum/SHM
The study was led by Marianne Hem Eriksen, Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Leicester in the U.K., and co-authored Katherine Marie Olley, Assistant Professor in Viking Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age in the School of English at the University of Nottingham.
Olley said: "Using Old Norse texts to illuminate Viking Age beliefs is difficult because the surviving manuscripts date to well after the Viking Age, but it is still fascinating to see words, concepts and memories of pregnancy in these sources that may have their roots in the earlier Viking period."
The study identified several Norse words used to denote pregnancy. Terms like "bellyfull," "unlight," and "to walk not a woman alone" popped up again and again in the research, offering insight into how the people of that time conceptualized pregnancy.
One saga examined closely by Olley as part of the research told the story of a fetus, still in his mother's womb, who ends up fated to avenge his father, being inscribed even before birth into complex social and political dynamics of kinship, feuds and violence.
Another centers on Freydis, a pregnant woman who, after a violent encounter, is unable to run away due to her physical condition, opting instead to stand and fight. The surviving text details how, undaunted, she picks up a sword, bares her breast, and strikes the sword against her chest, scaring the assailants away in the process.
Dr Olley said: "Freydís's behavior is surprising but may find a parallel in the study's examined silver figurine, where a pregnant woman, arms embracing her protruding belly, is wearing what appears to be a helmet with a noseguard.
"While we are careful not to present simplified narratives about pregnant warrior women, we must acknowledge that at least in art and stories, ideas were circulating about pregnant women with martial equipment. These are not passive, or pacified, pregnant bodies."
There are few references to pregnancy in existing evidence from the Viking Age. What is especially noticeable is that, despite this being a time of high levels of obstetric death there is only evidence of a handful of mother-infant burials from this period.
This new research suggests it may have been the case that mothers and babies were not routinely being buried together in the Viking Age. In fact, infants are generally under-represented in the Viking Age burial record.
Though some infants crop up in other places, like domestic houses, it is otherwise unknown what happened to the infants, or even if they were afforded a burial in the same way adults were.
Eiksen said: "Together with legal legislation such as pregnancy being seen as a 'defect' in an enslaved woman to be bought, or children born to subordinate peoples being the property of their owners, it is a stark reminder that pregnancy can also leave bodies open for volatility, risk and exploitation."
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about archaeology? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Eriksen, M. H., Olley, K. M., Marshall, B., & Tollefsen, E. (2025). Womb Politics: The Pregnant Body and Archaeologies of Absence. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959774325000125
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