In a startling revelation, researchers have found that that kissing was practised by the people of the ancient Middle East 4,500 years ago, moving the earliest documentation for kissing back 1,000 years.

Earlier research hypothesised that the earliest evidence of human kissing originated in a very specific geographical location in South Asia 3,500 years ago, from where it may have spread to other regions, simultaneously accelerating the spread of the herpes simplex virus 1.