Past

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

Look up past in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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, memory, flashback, recollection, archaeology, archaeoastronomy, chronology, geology, historical geology, historical linguistics, law, ontology, paleontology, paleobotany, paleoethnobotany, palaeogeography, paleoclimatology, and cosmology.

References

See also

Time
Key concepts	Human Life Nature Past history deep time Present Future Futures studies Far future in religion Far future in science fiction and popular culture Timeline of the far future Eternity Eternity of the world
Measurement and standards	Chronometry UTC UT TAI Unit of time Planck time Second Minute Hour Day Week Month Year Decade Century Millennium Tropical year Sidereal year Measurement systems Time zone 12-hour clock 24-hour clock Daylight saving time Solar time Sidereal time Metric time Decimal time Hexadecimal time Calendars Gregorian Julian Hebrew Islamic Lunar Solar Hijri Mayan Intercalation Leap second Leap year
Clocks	Horology History of timekeeping devices Main types astrarium atomic quantum marine sundial sundial markup schema watch water-based
Chronology History	Astronomical chronology Big History Calendar era Chronicle Deep time Periodization Regnal year Timeline
Religion Mythology	Dreamtime Kāla Kalachakra Prophecy Time and fate deities Wheel of time Immortality
Philosophy of time	A-series and B-series B-theory of time Causality Duration Endurantism Eternal return Eternalism Event Perdurantism Presentism Temporal finitism Temporal parts The Unreality of Time
Human experience and use of time	Accounting period Chronemics Fiscal year Generation time Mental chronometry Music Procrastination Punctuality Temporal database Term Time discipline Time management Time perception Specious present Time-tracking software Time-use research Time-based currency (time banking) Time value of money Time clock Timesheet Yesterday
Time in	Geology Geological time age chron eon epoch era period Geochronology Geological history of Earth Physics Absolute time and space Arrow of time Chronon Coordinate time Imaginary time Planck epoch Planck time Proper time Rate Spacetime Theory of relativity Time dilation gravitational Time domain T-symmetry other subject areas Chronological dating Chronobiology Circadian rhythms Dating methodologies in archaeology Time geography
Related topics	Carpe diem Clock position Space System time Tempus fugit Time capsule Time complexity Time signature Time travel
Time portal