Mead of the Bell Beaker Culture (c. 2800–1800 BCE). The earliest surviving description of mead is in the hymns of the "Rigveda", one of the sacred books of the historical Vedic religion and (later) Hinduism dated around 1700–1100 BC. During the Golden Age of ancient Greece, mead was said to be the preferred drink. Aristotle (384–322 BCE) discussed mead in his "Meteorologica" and elsewhere, while Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) called mead "militites" in his "Naturalis Historia" and differentiated wine sweetened with honey or "honey-wine" from mead. The Hispanic-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in "De re rustica", about
George J. Mead Jennie Henrietta Mathilda LeMann Mead. He graduated from the Choate School in Wallingford, CT in 1911 and attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but left in 1915 without graduating, owing to health problems. Mead worked for well over a year at Sterling Engine Company of Buffalo, NY. His next job was with the Crane-Simplex company of New Brunswick, NJ, builders of the Simplex automobile. Crane-Simplex later merged with the Wright-Martin Aeronautical Corporation where Mead was in charge of the experimental division of the engineering department. In 1919 he became chief engineer of what was now the Wright Aeronautical Corporation upon the