The first recorded kiss of humanity had reportedly taken place in Mesopotamia 4,500 years ago. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Oxford recently published an article in the Science journal, claiming that kissing was a common practice in the ancient Middle East 4,500 years ago. Their evidence predated previous theories by about 1,000 years.

The English and Danish researchers have made this claim on the basis of written sources from Mesopotamian societies, as the Mesopotamians had documented the act of kissing in different social contexts. The researchers further claimed that it was not at all surprising, as the act of kissing is a fundamental human behaviour. Even the closest animal relatives of human beings, like bonobos and chimpanzees, also perform this act. According to researchers, kissing could have played an important role in transmitting diseases, like the herpes simplex virus 1, in Mesopotamian Civilisation.

Earlier, scientists predicted that the earliest evidence of human lip kissing had originated in South Asia 3,500 years ago. Later, the practice might have spread to other regions, accelerating the spread of the herpes simplex virus 1.

However, Dr Troels Pank Arbøll and Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen have mentioned in the newly published article that a range of written sources of the earliest Mesopotamian societies suggest kissing was already a well-established practice in West Asia 4,500 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,” stressed Dr Arbøll, an expert on the History of Medicine in Mesopotamia.

Dr Arbøll further said: “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 practised in multiple ancient cultures over several millennia.” For her part, Dr Rasmussen stated: “In fact, research into bonobos and chimpanzees, the closest living relatives to humans, has shown that both species engage in kissing, which may suggest that the practice of kissing is a fundamental behaviour in humans, explaining why it can be found across cultures.”

They have also claimed that kissing was a potential transmitter of microorganisms (potentially causing viruses to spread among humans), in addition to its importance for social and sexual behaviour. Dr Arbøll considers kissing as a sudden biological trigger behind the spread of particular pathogens. According to him, the spread of the herpes simplex virus 1 could have been accelerated by the introduction of the kiss. He 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.”

Meanwhile, Dr Arbøll has admitted that a variety of cultural and religious concepts highly influenced the ancient medical texts, emphasising that they cannot be read at face value. “It is nevertheless interesting to note some similarities between the disease known as ‘bu’shanu’ 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,” explained Dr Arbøll. In the article published in Science, Dr Rasmussen noted: “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.”

The two researchers have come to the conclusion that future results, emerging from research into ancient DNA, shall certainly lead to discussions about complex historical developments and social interactions, like kissing as a driver of early disease transmission. Such discussions shall benefit from an interdisciplinary approach.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das