The amorous/sexual kiss (the kiss with the tongue, the French Kiss if you prefer or cataglotism if you want to show off) is a common practice in our societies. According to two biologists from the University of Oxford, Troels Pank Arbøll and Sophie Lund Rasmussen, Homo sapiens have been “clogs” for longer than we imagine…
The practice of kissing dates back 3,500 years. At least, that’s what we thought before. Indeed, new research reveals traces of this practice at least 1,000 years ago, or 4,500 years ago. Some researchers even think that Neanderthals already kissed 100,000 years ago!
Since 1500 BC only? Certainly not !
So far it is a manuscript dated to 1500 BC. J.-C. approximately, coming from India, which was authentic as for the origin of the “first kiss”. However, following a study published in 2022 which suggested that romantic kisses in ancient societies could be linked to the spread of certain strains of the herpes simplex virus, the two aforementioned researchers have found evocations of this practice. in “a substantial body of neglected evidence” dating back to 2,500 BCE.
” […] we quickly realized that most studies from the wider scientific community cited an Indian source dating to around 1500 BCE as the earliest reference to sexual romantic kissing says Arbøll. ” I knew there were earlier records from ancient Mesopotamia, and when I started researching the subject, I quickly realized that the evidence had been extensively gathered in a summary as far back as the 1980s, but that this information had apparently never been disseminated in other fields and was therefore unknown in the wider scientific discourse on kissing “.
According to the researchers, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and Syria) and Egypt were already indulging in this joy 4,500 years ago. And the kiss already seemed to be an ordinary element of intimacy, inscribed in morals.
Two texts dating from 1800 BC. JC are quite revealing. One describes how a married woman was nearly led astray by another man’s kiss, the other depicts an unmarried woman swearing to avoid kissing and having sex with a particular man.
A widespread practice
Generally speaking, the authors believe that the amorous kiss has many independent origins and that it did not appear in a single region, at least at that time.
” Sources from ancient Mesopotamia suggest that kisses related to sex, family and friendship were an integral part of daily life in the central regions of the ancient Middle East from the end of the third millennium BC. Our era. Therefore, the kiss should not be considered as a custom coming exclusively from one region and spreading from there. “, they write.
They add : ” In our paper, we argue that this form of kissing is attested across a wide geographic area in antiquity, including India and Mesopotamia, and that the evidence does not point to a single point of origin, at least in the historical era. If someone insists on finding one, it would have to be traced far back into prehistory. »
A possibly even older practice…
Note that we are talking here about the sexual kiss. The friendly and parental kiss would be even more universal and ancient. The loving kiss is probably part of a more restrictive cultural context (including in our current societies).
In addition, know that among our closest cousins, chimpanzees and bonobos also kiss: the former practice friendly kissing in a context of social relations, while the latter are the only ones – with humans – to indulge in kissing sexual.
Going back to our origin of the first kiss, Troels Pank Arbøll and Sophie Lund Rasmussen argue that Mesopotamian references to kissing show that this practice is not an isolated invention: it is said to have appeared within a wide range of cultures at multiple eras that could go back to prehistory.
To support their statements, they cite the authors of a study on the transfer of oral coccobacilli Methanobrevibacter oralis (a bacteria). The latter have hypothesized that Neanderthals have already kissed on the lips of the ancestors of modern humans more than 100,000 years ago.
The exact period of occurrence of the romantic kiss remains in any case uncertain. The sculpture below, called the Lovers of Ain Sakhri, which dates from 12,000 years ago, nevertheless makes our two researchers say that the practice existed long before the invention of writing.
Kiss ? What for ?
Besides “Since when?” “, the other big question is perhaps” for what? “. So, if you’re wondering why humans kiss, the authors of the article give us some clues.
Originally, the romantic kiss could have been used to assess certain aspects of a potential partner, thanks to chemical clues transmitted by saliva or simply breath.
In addition, the kiss would also have acted as a kind of “mediator” of feelings of attachment between individuals.
Finally, more prosaically, it would have made it possible to facilitate sexual arousal, and, consequently, sexual relations for reproductive purposes.
Source : Science
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