Scientists Revealed Time of Oldest Recorded Kisses in History

Newly published findings have revealed how researchers determined that the earliest mention of romantic kissing dates back some 4,500 years - about 1,000 years before it was detailed in historical Indian texts.

Danish scholars made their grand find after studying clay tablets from Mesopotamia, which included references to kissing on the lips as part of a sexual game. These tablets predate an Indian manuscript of the Bronze Age, dating from around 1500 BC, which was initially believed to include the first such mention.

Researchers note the description of kissing is found in one of the earliest surviving documents in the Sumerian and Akkadian languages, which were spoken in Mesopotamia. Writing is thought to have originated in present-day Iraq around 3200 BC.

"In ancient Mesopotamia, which is the name for the early human cultures that existed between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in present-day Iraq and Syria, people wrote in cuneiform script [wedge-shaped marks] on clay tablets... and they contain clear examples that kissing was considered a part of romantic intimacy in ancient times, just as... part of friendships and family members’ relations," said Dr. Troels Pank Arbøll, an expert on the history of medicine in Mesopotamia at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

In the texts, which can be dated back to 2500 BC (i.e. approximately 700 years after the appearance of writing), there is mention of kissing, which was clearly divided into two groups: the first denoted friendship or family affection, the other - was purely erotic action.

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Researched sources show that kissing in connection with sex, family and friendship was a common part of everyday life in central parts of the ancient Near East from the end of the 3rd millennium BC and, most probably, was not characteristic of this area only.

"Therefore, kissing should not be regarded as a custom that originated exclusively in any single region and spread from there but rather appears to have been practiced in multiple ancient cultures over several millennia," added Troels.

Moreover, even back then humans guessed that by kissing, people could "exchange" various infections and viruses. Ancient Near Eastern texts mention descriptions of diseases such as 'bubutu' or 'bushanu,' which can be identified as modern herpes.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Science.

Scientists Reveal Time of Oldest Recorded Kisses in History