I was recently looking for information about ancient egypt in the Old, Middle, and New Kingdom periods.
And the information tended to come in two flavors:
Historians talking about the monumental architecture, and funerary practices.
Pseudoscientists talking about "advanced ancient technology".
I'd like to learn more about Pharaonic Egypt than just how people died, and what happened after, but that seems to be the only thing anyone ever talks about.
Where can I find information on what life was like in these societies?
And is there a good process for finding reliable, vetted information about historical societies and cultures in general (outside of research papers)?
Not a historian so I can't answer the final question, but specific to your Egypt question, the History of Egypt Podcast is run by a historian and Egyptology PhD candidate and is regularly updated with new research. He does spend a lot of time talking about the royal families and the succession of power, but he also spends a lot of time talking about festivals, the stories and poetry they'd tell each other, day to day life at various levels, very personal stories of individuals we have robust records of, etc. As a layman, I find it pretty fascinating, and it's built out ancient Egypt in my mind so far beyond the usual titillation around funerary practices or ancient aliens.