Kissing in ancient times contributed to the spread of viral diseases
The first recorded records of human kissing may date back 1,000 years earlier than thought. The findings suggest that ancient Mesopotamian kissing may have been more culturally universal than previously thought.
Researchers believe that the earliest human evidence of kissing dates back to about 4,500 years ago in the ancient Near East, which is 1000 years earlier than previously thought.
Scholars have highlighted evidence that shows kissing was practiced in some of Mesopotamia's earliest societies and is documented in ancient texts dating back to 2500 BC that had previously been largely overlooked, The Guardian reports. p>
In an article published in the journal Science, the researchers also cited evidence that kissing may have contributed to the spread of oral diseases such as herpes.
Although studies have shown that friendships or family kissing has been a common behavior between people at all times and geographically, romantic-sexual kissing has not been considered culturally universal.
The researchers said the findings suggest that kissing was considered a common part of romantic intimacy in ancient times in many cultures and did not originate in a specific region, as earlier studies suggested. The previous hypothesis suggested that the earliest evidence of kissing was obtained in what is now India in 1500 BC.
Ancient Mesopotamian texts suggest that kissing was something married couples did, although kissing was also seen as part of an unmarried person's desires when in love.
Dr. Troels Punk Arbell, an expert on the history of medicine in Mesopotamia at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, says: “In ancient Mesopotamia, which is the name of the early human cultures that existed between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in what is now Iraq and Syria, people wrote in cuneiform on clay tablets . Many thousands of these clay tablets have survived to this day, and they contain clear examples of how kissing in ancient times was considered part of romantic intimacy, just as kissing could be part of friendship and family relationships. Therefore, kissing should not be seen as a custom that originated exclusively in any one region and spread from there, but rather, it seems to have been practiced in many ancient cultures over several millennia.”
Studies have shown that bonobo monkeys kiss for a romantic/sexual purpose, while chimpanzees engage in platonic kissing to build social relationships. As the closest living human relative, scientists said these practices hint at an ancient presence and behavioral evolution in humans.
The researchers also said that kissing may have unintentionally played a role in the transmission of pathogens such as the virus herpes simplex 1 (HSV-1), which causes herpes and diphtheria, a highly contagious bacterial infection.
The bushanu disease described in ancient medical texts is thought to be an HSV-1 infection. It was found in and around the mouth, which is one of the main hallmarks of the herpes virus.
Dr. Arbell said: “There is a significant corpus of medical texts from Mesopotamia, some of which mention the disease with symptoms resembling the simplex virus. herpes 1”.
However, the researchers stated that these texts should not be taken at face value, as they were influenced by various cultural and religious concepts of the time.