Maternal deaths in medieval sweden: an osteological and life table analysis

Abstract

Summary In a medieval population of Stockholm only three cases of maternal deaths were proved out of 330 burials of adult females, and only in one of the cases was a contracted pelvis found. However, life table analysis indicates a shorter life expectancy of females in the reproductive ages. This suggests a higher maternal mortality in the Middle Ages than in the 18th and 19th centuries in Sweden.