Their work, published this week in the journal Science, shows evidence that "kissing on the mouth is attested in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt" as early as 2,500 BCE.
However, the practice could go back much further in antiquity to prehistory, Troels Pank Arbøll of the University of Copenhagen, who co-authored the study with Sophie Lund Rasmussen of Oxford University, told AFP.
A specialist in the ancient Middle East, he is surprised to read in scientific publications that the human romantic kiss would be attested by an Indian source from 1,500 BC.
"I knew there was older evidence in ancient Mesopotamia," explained Arbøll, an expert on cuneiform writing — an ancient Mesopotamian script — on ancient clay tablets.
In the thousands of cuneiform texts available, the two researchers found few references to the romantic kiss.
But enough to be able to say "that there are clear examples showing that kissing was common in ancient times".
Specialists in the subject distinguish the "friendly-parental" kiss and the "romantic-sexual" kiss.
While the former seems universal across ages and geographies, the latter "is not culturally universal."
© 2023 AFP