Who kissed first, or who invented kissing? Believe it or not, this is a question that historians have been trying to answer for generations. Now, Danish researchers from the University of Copenhagen say they have found evidence that the practice of kissing on the lips as part of romantic and/or sexual encounters dates back to the Middle East, more than 4,000 years ago.
If the historians are right, then this would date the act of kissing to 2,000 years earlier than previously believed and not in South Asia as thought.
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Either way, it is hard to believe that something human beings take for granted as something natural, and instinctual, took so long to be established as a common practice. Whether it dates to the second century BCE or the fourth, it still means it took thousands of years for people to get around to engaging in the act of kissing.
Fittingly, the new research was conducted by a husband and wife team: Danish scientists Dr. Troels Pank Arbøll and Dr. Sophie Lund Rasmussen.
Their conclusions were based on a study of the Barton Cylinder. The Barton Cylinder, also known as CBS 8383, is a Sumerian creation myth written on a clay cylinder in the mid to late 3rd millennium BCE. It is now in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
The Barton Cylinder is one of the most important sources of information about Sumerian mythology. It tells the story of how the gods created the world and humanity, and how humanity was subsequently punished for its transgressions. The cylinder is also notable for its use of literary devices such as metaphor and simile.
“Lip kissing was documented in ancient Mesopotamia [modern day Iraq] and Egypt from at least 2500 B.C onward,” they said.
If the first kissing happened in what is now modern day Iraq it would be fitting. This area, known as the Fertile Crescent, is also called the “Cradle of Civilization” because it is where the world’s first organized societies formed. That being the case, there could be a link between people grouping together in cities and the development of kissing.
But the historians also point out that human may not have been the first to kiss on the lips as a form of romance or expression of love.
“Lip-kissing has been observed in chimpanzees and bonobos, our closest living relatives,” Dr. Rasmussen told the New York Times. “The kissing practices of these primates hints at something fundamental that goes way back in human history.”
So, is it possible that humans learned the act of kissing from primates? Let’s hope not.
