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 smooching is far older - and far stranger - than anyone imagined, with its origins stretching back more than 21 million years.

Scientists 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.

Study author Professor Catherine Talbot wrote in Evolution and Human Behaviour: “Kissing might feel universal, but it only appears in 46 per cent of human cultures.”

Talbot described the behaviour as “an evolutionary puzzle”, adding: “This is the first step in figuring out w

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