12 February 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New study says earliest recorded kiss occurred 4500 years ago in Mesopotamia

The University of Copenhagen according to researchers, humanity’s earliest recorded kiss occurred around 4,500 years ago in the ancient Middle East – 1,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Kissing was practiced in the earliest Mesopotamian societies, according to scientists, and may even have contributed to the spread of cold sores. In their article, published in the journal Science, the researchers said the findings suggest kissing was common across many cultures and did not originate in a specific region.

According to the researchers, this contradicts a previous theory that the earliest evidence of human lip kissing came from a specific region of South Asia 3,500 years ago.

“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 on clay tablets. Many thousands of these clay tablets have survived to this day, and they contain clear examples that kissing was considered a part of romantic intimacy in ancient times, just as kissing could be part of friendships and family members’ relations,” says Dr Troels Pank Arbøll, an expert on the history of medicine in Mesopotamia at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

He continues: “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.”

Studies on bonobos and chimpanzees – the closest living relatives to humans – have shown they engage in kissing.

This suggests the practice of kissing is a fundamental behaviour in humans and explains why it can be found across cultures, the scientists said.

Babylonian clay model showing a nude couple on a couch engaged in sex and kissing. Date: 1800 BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Babylonian clay model showing a nude couple on a couch engaged in sex and kissing. Date: 1800 BC. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum

The researchers also said kissing may have unintentionally played a role in the transmission of viruses such as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), which causes cold sores.

Dr. Arboll said: “There is a substantial corpus of medical texts from Mesopotamia, some of which mention a disease with symptoms reminiscent of the herpes simplex virus 1.”

But he added that ancient medical texts can be influenced by cultural and religious concepts so they cannot be read at face value.

Dr. Arboll said: “It is nevertheless interesting to note some similarities between the disease known as buʾshanu in ancient medical texts from Mesopotamia and the symptoms caused by herpes simplex infections.

“The bu’shanu disease was located primarily in or around the mouth and throat, and symptoms included vesicles in or around the mouth, which is one of the dominant signs of herpes infection.”

Recent studies have shown that modern-day viruses that spread through kissing, such as HSV-1, Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever, and human parvovirus B19, which causes a bright red rash on the cheeks in children, were present in ancient times.

Dr. Sophie Lund Rasmussen, of the University of Oxford, said: “If the practice of kissing was widespread and well-established in a range of ancient societies, the effects of kissing in terms of pathogen transmission must likely have been more or less constant.”

Dr. Arbøll and Dr. Rasmussen conclude that future findings from ancient DNA research will benefit from an interdisciplinary approach, as they will inevitably lead to discussions about complex historical developments and social interactions, such as kissing as a driver of early disease transmission.

Cover Photo: Babylonian clay model showing a nude couple on a couch engaged in sex and kissing. Date: 1800 BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum

University of Copenhagen

Related Articles

7,000-Year-Old Canoes Reveal Early Development of Nautical Technology in Mediterranean

21 March 2024

21 March 2024

The discovery of five “technologically sophisticated” canoes in Italy has revealed that  Neolithic people were navigating the Mediterranean more than...

The Discovery of nobleman Khuwy could rewrite Egypt history

25 October 2021

25 October 2021

The mummified corpse of an ancient Egyptian nobleman named Khuwy, discovered in 2019, showed the ancient Egyptians were carrying out...

Medieval Moat and Bridge Discovered Protecting Farmhouse in England

14 March 2024

14 March 2024

Cotswold Archaeology’s excavations in Tewkesbury, a historic riverside town north of Gloucestershire, England, have revealed a medieval moat and bridge...

The Lion of Venice was Made in China: : Isotopic Analyses and Stylistic Comparisons Prove it

16 September 2024

16 September 2024

Recent scientific studies have revealed that the famous bronze-winged lion above one of the two columns in Piazzetta San Marco,...

1,800-Year-Old Sanctuary to Mithras discovered in Spain

8 February 2023

8 February 2023

Archaeologists excavating at Villa del Mitra in Cabra, Spain, have uncovered a sanctuary dedicated to the god Mithras, along with...

A woman in Norway found Viking-age 1000-year-old hoard in basement

20 April 2023

20 April 2023

A woman in Norway cleaned her parents’ home, she found 32 iron ingots dating to the Viking or early Middle...

2000-year-old Ancient Greek ‘graduate school yearbook’ carved in stone found

5 June 2022

5 June 2022

Historians have discovered that an ancient Greek inscription on a marble slab in the collection of the National Museums of...

Syria uncovered a large intact mosaic that dates back to the Roman era

12 October 2022

12 October 2022

Syria uncovered a large intact mosaic that dates back to the Roman era, in the central town of Rastan, describing...

Ancient Dog Figurines Mini Tea Utensils on Display in Nara

21 February 2021

21 February 2021

Nara was the capital of Japan from 710 to 794, also known as the Nara period, before moving to the...

4,000-year-old Rock Art From A Previously Unknown Ancient Culture uncovered in Venezuela

4 July 2024

4 July 2024

An archaeological team in Venezuela has uncovered 20 ancient rock art sites in Canaima National Park in the southeastern part...

Ancient Rome’s city borders were discovered in a rare stone

17 July 2021

17 July 2021

Archaeologists unearthed a rare stone outlining ancient Rome’s city borders during excavations for a new sewage system. The stone comes...

1,500-year-old baptistery found in Kadı Castle-Anaia Mound in western Turkey

3 December 2021

3 December 2021

A baptistery, estimated to have been built in the 5th century AD, was unearthed in the Kadı Castle-Anaia Mound in...

An inscription containing 15 headless falcons and unknown ancient rituals found in an ancient Egyptian temple

8 October 2022

8 October 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a shrine containing previously unknown ancient rituals during excavations at Berenike, a Greco-Roman port in Egypt’s eastern...

Archaeologists Uncover Elegant Rare Blue Frescoes of an Ancient Sanctuary in Pompeii

10 June 2024

10 June 2024

Archaeologists digging away at ash covering the ancient city of Pompeii have uncovered a room with walls frescoed in an...

A Newly Found 12,000-year-old Burial in Türkiye May Belong to a Female ‘Shaman’

28 July 2024

28 July 2024

A recently published study suggests that a woman buried in the upper reaches of the Tigris River in south-eastern Türkiye...