by In a review published in the journal Science, two Danish researchers talk about the history of kissing. There are two types of kisses, a parental kiss that expresses friendship and intimacy, and a sexual kiss that is sexual. Parental kisses exist in all cultures, but not sexual kisses, which tend to exist in class societies. Recent research suggests that the earliest known record of a sexual kiss comes from Bronze Age India, around 1500 BC. But this conclusion is not conclusive. Kissing has been recorded in ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt since at least 2500 BC. Sexual kiss did not appear suddenly, it exists in many cultures. Studies suggest that one of the purposes of sexual kiss is to assess the suitability of potential partners through chemical cues in saliva or breath, adjust emotions, and promote sexual arousal and sexual relations. This type of snout has also been observed in other primates, probably the most famous of which is the bonobo. In Sumerian texts used by the ancient Mesopotamians, kissing is associated with sex and the target of the kiss is the mouth. In Akkadian, another language of the Mesopotamians, there are two kinds of kisses, one expresses submission or respect, and the target of the kiss is the feet or the ground; the other is related to sex, and the target is also the mouth. In addition to the importance of kissing for social and sexual behavior, there may be unintended secondary effects on disease transmission. The kissing-transmitted pathogens that are common today existed in ancient or even prehistoric times.
