European people seems a straight line. The past is behind you, the future is ahead, and life moves forward. Habitual picture... But not for everyone. There are peoples, convinced that time flows differently: from front to back, in a circle or even uphill. This suggests that the modern way of life has changed our idea of time. Recent studies "custom" perception of time has led scientists in Papua New Guinea, in the village Gua - settlement tribe of upno.

Rafael Nunez, an employee of the University of California in San Diego (USA)and his colleagues went on the slopes of the ridge Finisterre in the North-East of the country. In this area there are no roads, electricity or even pastures. The way of life of the tribe remains virtually untouched for centuries. Talking to the locals, U.S. researchers drew attention to the body language of the indigenous people at the time when it came to the passage of time, the events of the past, present, or future. Gestures interlocutors seemed Nunez and colleagues rather unusual.

If a conversation in the street, at the mention of the last natives showed down at the foot of the local mountains and the river mouth, and talking about the future, pointed upward, to the tops of the mountains, where I was hiding the source of the river. The gesture was repeated regardless of where I was sent the look of a man. All aboriginal people were convinced that the future is up in the mountains, and the past - in the valley.

Inside the hut geographical landmarks of upno lost, and there's a time line becomes more direct. However, the natives are pointing to the door, when talking about the past, and in the direction of the entrance, when mention about the future, regardless of the orientation of the house. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the entrance to the hut is raised above ground level, argue researchers. Thus, the past, both in and out of the house, is located in the "down the slope", and the space inside the hut is at the top, then - in the future.

Researchers have proposed a historical hypothesis that explains this picture of the world: the ancestors of upno profits in these places by sea and then climbed 2500-meter height. Perhaps, therefore, there seems to them in the past. The most amazing scientists thought that the time line was repeated surrounding landscape. "This is the first time everyday ideas about time have topographical properties", said Nunez.

However, upno is almost like-minded people. The Australian tribe of pormpuraaw time flows from East to West. Ideas about time some tribes living in the remotest corners of the planet, make us think about many things. For example, about what is familiar to us the picture of the world is not universal.

For example, Quechua, the language of the tribal groups, in ancient times, created the state, which we know as the Inca Empire, the time was inseparable from space: both concepts were identified one and the same word "Pacha". Moreover, Quechua does not distinguish between past and future: in their opinion, there were only two types of space-time: the fact that here and now, and that "not now" and not here. This past and the future in Quechua was called "Navier-Pacha".

In some languages, Ancient India, including in Hindi, yesterday and tomorrow are referred to one and the same word "cal" ("kal"). Only near the verb is possible to understand, whether we are talking about the past or future tense. Languages reflect cyclical perception of time, which was typical of our ancestors. The harvest, the alternation of seasons, the cycles of nature - usual events were walking in a circle, repeating from time to time.

It can be assumed that the modern idea of progress and personal achievements, aspirations forward is not accounted for if they like. Success in their understanding was not likely to drop out of the usual circle of time - time to sow and harvest, not to die from the disease in youth, give birth and raise children who will continue the life cycle.

There are amazing people, who believe that time is running backward. Suppose, for example, Aymara, living on the slopes of the Andes. For them, the future is located behind the back, and the past - before the eyes. The logic is simple: the past is that we remember and saw, and about the future don't know anything. As for the Chinese past is at the top, and the future at the bottom. Here, most likely, it's in the habit of writing in a column from top to bottom. In terms "level" time the Chinese agree with the Europeans, but the direction of the show is a little different: "forward" they perceive as the "down".