- British museum
VIVA – The first kiss took place 4,500 years ago in the Middle East. The discovery has revealed that romantic kissing happened about 1,000 years earlier than the date experts had previously written. Researchers found evidence of kissing on clay tablets from Ancient Mesopotamia - now modern Iraq and Syria
The earliest texts in Sumerian suggest that kissing may have been a post-coitus activity enjoyed after sex.
The research was a collaboration between husband and wife, Troels Pank Arboll, an expert on ancient Mesopotamia from the University of Copenhagen, and biologist Sophie Lund Rasmussen, from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
His contribution includes a description of the theory that romantic, sexual kissing may have evolved to find out how healthy a partner is - based on finding out up close whether they have bad breath.
"Kissing is something we take for granted, that feels like it's always been there, but it has to start somewhere, and we think it's older than previously believed," Rasmussen says.
Evidence from our closest relatives, bonobos, and chimpanzees, suggests that we do it to create feelings of intimacy and bonding in relationship.
"But it can also help us evaluate potential partners because bad breath indicates something is wrong and they may not be healthy," he added.
The article, published in the journal Science, highlights how kissing was first perceived, based on texts from ancient Mesopotamia. Public displays of affection were frowned upon back then, such as kissing.
Meanwhile kissing a priestess, someone who was most likely not meant to be sexually active, was believed to take away the kisser's ability to speak.
Kissing was also utilized for other than non-romantic things, such as expressing affection between parents and children, or friends.
In ancient Mesopotamian texts from 2500 BCE onwards, kissing appears to be common across several cultures and not originating in any particular region.
It has previously been suggested that the earliest evidence of human lip kissing comes from South Asia 3,500 years ago. Some prehistoric sculptures suggest that kissing predates writing, but it is not clear enough to be certain.
"Kissing should not be considered a custom that was exclusively in one region and spread from there, but rather appears to have been practiced in a variety of ancient cultures for several millennia," Arboll added.
The researchers also said kissing may have a long-term effect on the transmission of viruses such as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), which causes cold sores.
