{"id":3696,"date":"2025-11-19T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/neanderthals-used-to-kiss-early-humans-scientists-discover\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T10:00:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T10:00:51","slug":"neanderthals-used-to-kiss-early-humans-scientists-discover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/19\/neanderthals-used-to-kiss-early-humans-scientists-discover\/","title":{"rendered":"Neanderthals used to kiss early humans, scientists discover"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2025-11-19 10:00:48<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>Neanderthals used to kiss early humans, new evidence has suggested.<BR><br \/>\nA study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford and the Florida Institute of Technology suggests that smooching is far older &#8211; and far stranger &#8211; than anyone imagined, with its origins stretching back more than 21 million years.<BR><br \/>\nScientists have long known that Homo sapiens interbred with Neanderthals because traces of their DNA survive in our genomes today, but they have now discovered those encounters also involved tender lip-locking.<BR><br \/>\nStudy author Professor Catherine Talbot wrote in Evolution and Human Behaviour: \u201cKissing might feel universal, but it only appears in 46 per cent of human cultures.\u201d<BR><br \/>\nTalbot described the behaviour as \u201can evolutionary puzzle\u201d, adding: \u201cThis is the first step in figuring out whether kissing is instinct or invention.\u201d<BR><br \/>\nTo unravel the mystery, the team did something no archaeologist can do with fossils: they analysed living primates like chimps, bonobos and orangutans, who all kiss. <BR><br \/>\nUsing Bayesian modelling &#8211; a kind of statistical time machine &#8211; the researchers simulated kissing behaviour along the primate family tree ten million times. <BR><br \/>\nThe results point to a common ancestor of the great apes that puckered up between 21.5 and 16.9 million years ago.<BR><br \/>\nCrucially, the model suggests Neanderthals inherited this ancient behaviour, meaning they almost certainly kissed early humans during their intimate encounters. <BR><br \/>\nCombined with previous evidence that the two species swapped oral microbes, scientists say the conclusion is unavoidable: Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were locking lips.<BR><br \/>\nIt is unknown how kissing has survived evolution, as it spreads germs, offers no clear survival advantage, and cannot be detected in the fossil record, yet humans have kept doing it.<BR><br \/>\nSome researchers believe it evolved from grooming rituals &#8211; little lip-sucks used to pluck insects from fur &#8211; that gradually took on erotic meaning.<BR><br \/>\nWhether tender or opportunistic, experts agree prehistoric hookups had room for affection. <BR><br \/>\nArchaeologist Professor Paul Pettitt said: \u201cIf it was consensual, we can assume foreplay \u2014 even sensual kissing and cuddling.\u201d<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2025-11-19 10:00:48 Neanderthals used to kiss early humans, new evidence has suggested. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford and the Florida Institute of Technology suggests that&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3698,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3696\/revisions\/3698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}