The first documented kiss happened in the Middle East 4,500 years ago, about 1,000 years earlier than previously believed, researchers have found.
The act was recorded in ancient Mesopotamia, which roughly corresponds to modern-day Iraq.
Kissing was documented on clay tablets from the region, researchers said in an article published in the journal Science.
It suggests kissing was integral to romantic, familial and friendly relations.
The team was led by Dr Troels Pank Arboll, an assistant professor who researches Mesopotamian medicine at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Researchers suggested that kissing in ancient times may also led to the spread of viruses including herpes simplex virus 1, which is causes cold sores.
Mesopotamian medical texts refer to a condition called “bu'shanu”, which led to symptoms that mirror those of the herpes simplex virus.
But Dr Arboll said those texts could not be read at face value because of cultural and religious concepts at the time.
Other studies have shown that some viruses around today also affected ancient communities.
“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,” said Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen, a researcher at the University of Oxford.
Dr Arboll spoke to The National and shed light on the social implications of kissing in ancient Mesopotamian societies.
“Mesopotamian sources indicate that society attempted to regulate romantic-sexual kissing,” he said.
“It was not something one should do openly on the street, and it seems that it was preferably practised among married couples.
“Nevertheless, the need for such norms indicates its wide practice in society.”
Dr Arboll added that the evidence underscores a broader geographical practice of romantic-sexual kissing in the ancient world, especially in societies with a certain degree of social stratification, such as those in Mesopotamia and India.
This groundbreaking research invites a fresh perspective on human behaviour and social customs.
“Our study pushes the history of the romantic-sexual kiss back 1,000 years,” Dr Arboll said.
“It raises important points for future discussions, namely to what extent kissing could have accelerated disease transmission.
“We encourage more collaboration between historic disciplines and natural sciences for a holistic perspective on cultural practices.”
As for the role kissing played in transmitting diseases in ancient times, Dr Arboll believes it is reasonable to discuss disease transmission routes, especially since there is evidence of pathogens that could be transmitted by saliva and kissing in the ancient historical periods.
“I do not assume that the effect of kissing on disease transmission would change wildly in modern societies,” he said.
He also shared exciting plans for future research, emphasising the wealth of knowledge that ancient Mesopotamian medicine holds, particularly regarding disease conceptualisation and healing practices.
“The study of ancient Mesopotamian medicine is an extremely productive field, he said.
“For the past decades, the few people in our field have been mainly involved in making the massive corpus of healing texts available to the scientific community. There's still much to explore.”
When asked about the understanding of disease and its transmission in ancient societies, Dr Arboll said that their ideas were influenced by religion and were clearly different from modern medical theories.
“Diseases were seen as being caused by gods and demons, and many names for diseases functioned as both disease and demonic entity,” he explained.
“Nonetheless, there were almost pragmatic means to avoid infection, such as avoiding drinking from an ill woman’s cup.
“Ancient disease concepts were obviously different from the diagnoses found in modern medicine, and they do not correlate to one another.”
This discovery opens the door for future studies on how these ancient diseases may have spread and how the people tried to avoid being afflicted.
“The sources I work with represent a timespan of a little more than 3,000 years, the first half of history,” he said.
“So each new study adds significant depth to what we know about humans and how they, in these specific cultures, dealt with each other and the world.”
Directed by Sam Mendes
Starring Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays
4.5/5
The specs: 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera
Price, base: Dh1.2 million
Engine: 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 725hp @ 6,500pm
Torque: 900Nm @ 1,800rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.3L / 100km (estimate)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The distance learning plan
Spring break will be from March 8 - 19
Public school pupils will undergo distance learning from March 22 - April 2. School hours will be 8.30am to 1.30pm
Staff will be trained in distance learning programmes from March 15 - 19
Teaching hours will be 8am to 2pm during distance learning
Pupils will return to school for normal lessons from April 5
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
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Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
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DAY%20ONE%20RESULT
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Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
