Hello, as a topic in an English class I am taking, I have chosen the topic of mead. I am reentering college after dropping out about 25 years ago. The project is what is called an multi-genre project, meaning that we will bu using different mediums to complete different parts of it. I wanted to do the essay portion (5 to 7 pages) on the history of mead. With a little digging, I have found this thread:History of beer, wine, cider and mead AMA which I feel will be a great resource to me. I was wondering if any of the historians on this sub might be able to recommend any sources I might be able to use for this project. I have access to my schools online databases for scholarly articles, however finding anything about mead is getting hard. The older the source the better, especially one must be a primary source.
I was also wondering if anyone could help me in finding any articles on the earliest known instances of mead production that archaeologists have found. I have found several articles and blurbs on meadery homepages that it originated in India some 4000 years ago, however I have found other sources that claim that they have found remains of a mead-like substance in northern China that dates back about 10,000 years. If anyone could help me track down some sources on this I would really appreciate it.
Thank you all for your time in answering my questions and I wish you all the best in whatever endeavors you might partake in.
Hi - we as mods have approved this thread, because while this is a homework question, it is asking for clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself, which is fine according to our rules. This policy is further explained in this Rules Roundtable thread and this META Thread.
As a result, we'd also like to remind potential answerers to follow our rules on homework - please make sure that your answers focus appropriately on clarifications and detailing the resources that OP could be using.
Additionally, while users may be able to help you out with specifics relating to your question, we also have plenty of information on /r/AskHistorians on how to find and understand good sources in general. For instance, please check out our six-part series, "Finding and Understanding Sources", which has a wealth of information that may be useful for finding and understanding information for your essay.