A team of researchers from the Universities of Nottingham and Leicester has conducted the first study on motherhood in the Viking Age, discovering that pregnant women were depicted in art and literature with martial equipment, while newborns entered a hostile world where they did not always receive a burial and, in some cases, were not even born free.

The study, led by Dr. Marianne Hem Eriksen, Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Leicester, and Dr. Katherine Marie Olley, Assistant Professor in Viking Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age at the University of Nottingham, examined archaeological, linguistic, and literary evidence in Old Norse sources.

Dr. Olley found in saga accounts that pregnancy was described using highly symbolic language. Among the words used to denote pregnancy, we find rich terms such as “bellyfull,” “unlight,” or “to walk not a woman alone,” giving us clues about how gestation was conceptualized, she explained.

viking women pregnant weapons
The Aska figurine. (a) Full object en face and (b) closeup of head/face, showing the potential clover-shaped nose guarded helmet. Credit: Ola Myrin / Historiska Museet

In one of the sagas examined, a fetus, still in the womb, is destined to avenge his father, demonstrating that even before birth children could be inscribed into complex dynamics of kinship, vengeance, and violence. Another account examined by Olley tells the story of Freydís, a woman who, finding herself threatened in a confrontation and unable to flee due to her advanced pregnancy, grabs a sword, bares her chest, and strikes the weapon against her own body, scaring off her attackers.

Freydís’s behavior is unexpected, but finds a parallel in a silver figurine analyzed in our study, where a pregnant woman, with her arms around her swollen belly, wears what appears to be a helmet with a nose guard, Olley noted. Although we avoid falling into simplistic narratives of “pregnant warrior women,” it is undeniable that, at least in art and stories, there were circulating ideas about pregnant figures associated with the martial. These are not passive or pacified bodies.

The Enigma of the Absence of Infant Burials

One of the most disturbing findings of the research is the near total absence of mothers and babies buried together in Viking archaeological records. Although obstetric mortality is believed to have been high at the time, only a handful of possible double graves have been identified across Scandinavia.

viking women pregnant weapons
Photos and plans of potential motherfetus burials. (a–b) Grave 294 and 228, Kopparsvik, after Toplak (2016); (c) Grave 35a, Fjälkinge (interpretative drawing by Matt Hitchcock based on Helgesson 1996); (d–e) Grave WG and XJ, Galgedil. Credit: Odense Bys Museer

Infants are underrepresented in Viking burials in general, pointed out Dr. Eriksen. Some appear in domestic contexts, but in most cases we don’t know what happened to them. It’s unclear whether they were buried under the same terms as adults.

This absence contrasts with the discovery of a unique pendant found in a 10th-century Swedish grave, which depicts a pregnant woman with what could be a helmet. The deceased, buried with a rich grave good assemblage and accompanied by animals, has been interpreted by some experts as a völva (a seer or ritual specialist), where pregnancy could be linked to roles of spiritual power.

The study also highlights how pregnancy could become a vulnerability factor in societies with pronounced hierarchical structures. Medieval Nordic legislation —though written after the Viking Age— mentions that pregnancy was considered a “defect” in a female slave, reducing her sale value, Eriksen recalled. The children of subjugated peoples were property of their owners. This reminds us that gestation, although essential for social reproduction, also exposed women to risk and exploitation.

The research thus challenges the romanticized view of Viking societies, as despite common artistic depictions of strong and combative women, the reality for many mothers and newborns was far from idyllic. Pregnancy has never been an apolitical matter, Eriksen concluded. Questions about when someone becomes a person or how kinship is structured are as relevant today as they were a thousand years ago.

SOURCES

University of Nottingham

Eriksen MH, Olley KM, Marshall B, Tollefsen E. Womb Politics: The Pregnant Body and Archaeologies of Absence. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. Published online 2025:1-14. doi:10.1017/S0959774325000125

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