Neandertaler und frühe Menschen „haben sich wahrscheinlich geküsst“, sagen Wissenschaftler. Studie der Universität Oxford untersucht die evolutionären Ursprünge des Küssens und seine Rolle in den Beziehungen zwischen Arten.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513825001370

From the linked article:

**Neanderthals and early humans ‘likely to have kissed’, say scientists**

**Study from University of Oxford looks into evolutionary origins of kissing and its role in relations between species**

From Galápagos albatrosses to polar bears, chimpanzees to orangutans, certain species appear to kiss. Now researchers suggest Neanderthals did it too – and might even have locked lips with modern humans.

It is not the first time scientists have suggested Neanderthals and early modern humans were intimately acquainted. Among previous studies, researchers have found humans and their thick-browed cousins shared the same mouth microbe for hundreds of thousands of years after the two species split, suggesting they swapped saliva.

Dr Matilda Brindle, an evolutionary biologist and the first author of the new study from the University of Oxford, said while various theories had been proposed, the new work supported a simple explanation.

“Probably they were kissing,” she said, adding that the idea chimed with research that has found humans of non-African ancestry have bits of Neanderthal DNA in their genome, revealing interbreeding was at play.

“It certainly puts a more romantic spin on human-Neanderthal relations,” Brindle said.

Writing in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, Brindle and colleagues report how, to investigate the evolutionary origins of kissing, they first had to come up with a definition that was not limited to how humans smooch.

Who told them?? It was supposed to be a secret

I wrote my dissertation on neanderthal/human interactions and the closest evidence I could find was they were sitting in trees together. I’m glad someone else continued with this research.