Meadowsweet in Archaeology

Relatively speaking, there is a significant amount of archaeological evidence for the use of meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) in ancient fermented beverages. Much of this evidence is from Bronze Age sites (mostly 2nd millennium BCE), but there are some Iron Age sites (contemporary with classical Greece and Rome) where meadowsweet residues were found. This chronological distribution…

PLINY THE ELDER, 14.51

Est et occidentis populis sua ebrietas fruge madida, pluribus modis per gallias hispaniasque, nominibus aliis, sed ratione eadem. Hispaniae iam et vestutatem ferre ea genera docuerunt. Aegyptus quoque e fruge sibi potus similes excogitavit, nullaque in parte mundi cessat ebrietas, meros quippe hauriunt tales sucos nec diluendo ut vina mitigant. At Hercules illic tellus fruges…