Past

For other uses, see PAST (disambiguation).

Vassily Maximov, "Everything is in the past" (1889).

Time
Actual time
04:13, 21 May 2013 (UTC) – Reload page
Major Concepts
Past ♦ Present ♦ Future Eternity Arguments for eternity
Broad Studies
Chronology History (Paleontology) Futurology
Philosophy
Presentism ♦ Eternalism, Fatalism Philosophy of Space and Time
Religion
Creation End Times Day of Judgement Immortality Afterlife ♦ Reincarnation Kalachakra
Time measurement and Standards
Metric Time ♦ Hexadecimal time
Science and Naturalism
Radiometric dating Chronobiology Evolution Cosmogony Ultimate fate of the universe Time in Physics
Related
Spacetime, Motion ♦ Space Event ♦ Continuum Time Travel ♦ (Grandfather Paradox)

The past is a term used to indicate the totality of events which occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience time, and is accessed through memory and recollection. In addition, human beings have recorded the past since the advent of written language.

The past is the object of such fields as history, archaeology, archaeoastronomy, chronology, geology, historical geology, historical linguistics, law, ontology, paleontology, paleobotany, paleoethnobotany, palaeogeography, paleoclimatology, and cosmology.

See also

• Antiquarian
• Archaism
• Artifact (archaeology)
• Fossil
• Historic preservation
• Museum
• Nostalgia
• Past tense
• Retro style