Gaby
According to researchers from the United Kingdom and Denmark, residents of Mesopotamia practiced kissing as far back as the 2500s BCE. This discovery pushes the timeline back by a millennium, as previous studies suggested that the earliest recorded lip kisses occurred in South Asia around 1500 BCE. Now, the title of the earliest known kisses belongs to Mesopotamia, a region in the Middle East situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, covering parts of modern-day Iraq and Syria.
This groundbreaking finding was made possible through the deciphering of texts on cuneiform clay tablets.
In an article published in the journal Science, the researchers stated that kissing should not be viewed as a custom that originated in a single region; rather, it was widespread across many cultures.
Dr. Troels Pank Arboll from the University of Copenhagen noted that thousands of clay tablets have survived to this day, on which the Mesopotamians wrote in cuneiform. Some of these documents provide evidence that kissing in those ancient times was part of romantic intimacy, as well as friendly and familial relationships.
Previous studies of bonobos and chimpanzees—humans’ closest relatives—have shown that they also engage in kissing. According to scientists, this suggests that the practice of kissing is a fundamental behavior in humans, which explains why it can be found across various cultures.
Kissing as a Virus Spreader
Researchers also suggested that kissing may have unintentionally played a historical role in the transmission of viruses, as reported by the Independent.
“There is a significant body of medical texts from Mesopotamia; some of them mention a disease with symptoms resembling those of herpes simplex virus type 1,” Dr. Arboll noted. He added that ancient medical texts were influenced by cultural and religious concepts, “so they should not be taken at face value.”
“It is interesting to find some similarities between the disease referred to as bu’shanu in ancient Mesopotamian medical texts and the symptoms caused by herpes simplex infections,” the researcher said.
The disease described in ancient texts was primarily localized in the mouth and throat or around them. Symptoms included vesicles in or around the mouth, which are one of the dominant signs of herpes infection, the scientist explained.
“If the practice of kissing was common in some ancient societies, then the consequences of kissing regarding pathogen transmission were likely more or less constant,” said Dr. Sophie Lund Rasmussen, a study participant from the University of Oxford.
