Dec 22, 2010 10:47 AM

When did Humans start Kissing?

Yesterday I posted The Table of Contents for The Science of Kissing and today I’ll answer another question from readers… therewillbewords asked: When did humans start kissing as a show of affection? The earliest literary evidence we have for kissing dates back to India’s Vedic Sanskrit texts composed around 3,500 years ago. However, given there […]

Yesterday I posted The Table of Contents for The Science of Kissing and today I'll answer another question from readers... therewillbewords asked:__ When did humans start kissing as a show of affection?__

The earliest literary evidence we have for kissing dates back to India's Vedic Sanskrit texts composed around 3,500 years ago. However, given there are so many kissing-like behaviors across the animal kingdom (particularly among our closest primate relatives) it's likely that our own species has been locking lips--on and off--for a much longer period of time.

This amazing image (also in the book) is by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. Tumblr questions are piling in and readers are welcome to submit your own in comments below…

Sheril Kirshenbaum is a research scientist at UT Austin's Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy. She is author of The Science of Kissing and Unscientific America. ... Read More

Topicsscience of kissing

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