American author Nathaniel Hawthorne once said: “Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.” Let’s explore that tail, shall we? It’s not an easy task, but Bored Panda put together a list of photos that capture this elusive silhouette quite well.

From a meatball that has spent decades in epoxy to 1,800-year-old Roman leather sandals, the things you’re going to see below have all faced the biggest battle in the universe — the passage of time — but took different wounds. Continue scrolling to compare them and if you want more of the same, fire up our similar publications here, here, and here.

#1 The Wear And Scuff-Marks On This Boat Look Like An Island In The Sea

Image credits: supremo92

#2 This Jack O Lantern With Mold Growing From Inside

Image credits: SnapDragon0420

#3 Brickwork By The Sea

Image credits: Keycuk

#4 You Can Tell Where People Tend To Line Up At This Brooklyn Hardware Store By Where The Linoleum Tile Has Been Worn Away To Reveal The Original Ceramic

Image credits: RebbeofBK

#5 The One And Only Basketball That Lives At The Local Park And Somehow Still Bounces

Image credits: sangallium

#6 The Knife At The Left Was Used By A Butcher For 5 Years Straight. The One At The Right Is The Exact Same Knife, But Brand New

Image credits: MBMV

#7 Shout Out To Lodge For Replacing My 14 Year Old Dutch Oven Because The Enamel Chipped. No Hassles, Just A Free Replacement In The Mail One Week After Contacting Them

Image credits: johnnybluejeans

#8 My Grandmother Has Kept Her Elementary School Lunch Box In Nearly Pristine Condition For Over 70 Years

Image credits: HIGHly_intALEXual

#9 160 Years Of Foot Traffic Over The Step Into My Local Pub

Image credits: Dyslexicelectric

#10 I Went Into The Office For The First Time Since March 2020 And Found The Kiwi I Left In My Desk

Image credits: theskinwearein

#11 Just Found An Old Roll Of Biodegradable Poop Bags, They Really Do Disintegrate Like Advertised

Image credits: terencebogards

#12 My Work ID Has Been In Its Plastic Holder For So Long That It’s Imprinted This Ghostly Image Of My Face

Image credits: cannibalism_is_vegan

#13 About Time I Bought Some New Work Boots

Image credits: jordanburic

#14 1,800-Year-Old Roman Leather Sandals On Display At Vindolanda Fort In Northumberland, England

Image credits: Stotallytob3r

#15 I Inherited My Grandma’s Sewing Supplies And As I Was Putting Them Away Realized I Bought The Exact Same Buttons That She Did Over 35 Years Ago For Me

Image credits: Glitter_Plague

#16 I Found This Leaf With Only It’s ‘Veins’ Remaining

Image credits: spechlfriedrice

#17 I Accidentally Left My Iron Man Canvas Out In The Rain And Inadvertently Improved The Original Design

Image credits: blakemon1

#18 Water Levels At Lake Powell Are So Low You Can Find Old Wrecks Out Of The Water

Image credits: mowikn

#19 Well-Pet Ducks

Image credits: Chuudo

#20 My Parents Got This Spray Bottle Of Windex In 1979 And Have Been Reusing It Ever Since

Image credits: pandasweatshirt

#21 This Tree Eating A Postbox

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#22 My Neighbors Have An Old Chair With Plants Growing Over It

Image credits: JoeDragotta

#23 A Tree Trunk With A Silver Kennedy 1/2 Dollar Coin

Image credits: AirPotato

#24 Bathrooms At My Engineering University

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#25 This Guy Dancing At The Same Place For Weeks

Image credits: Gymbrain

#26 This Whiteboard Eraser Has Definitely Seen More Than Its Fair Share Of Use

Image credits: iammandalore

#27 This Pumpkin Got Tossed In The Chicken Run Last November But Other Animals Ate The Insides, Leaving A Fairly Intact Shell

Image credits: Beelzabubba

#28 These Hand Prints In A Cave In Southern Utah

Image credits: waymanate

#29 A Seesaw (Teeter-Totter) In My Local Playground Where Thousands Of Little Feet Have Worn Through The Asphalt

Image credits: swannykk

#30 My Nana Has Been Using The Same Deck Of Cards For 10 Years And They’ve All Grooved To Her Hand Placement During Shuffling

Image credits: RemarkableDifficulty

#31 My Teal Post-Its Turned Green While I Was Out Of The Office For 15 Months

Image credits: isntthatcorny

#32 Exact Center Seat, 3rd Row From The Back Of The Theater Gets A Lot Of Use

Image credits: toddhenderson

#33 Old Gold/Copper Crayola Crayons That Turned Green From Oxidation

Image credits: HapEGoLucky

#34 60-Year-Old Unopened Pepsi Bottle

Image credits: NoodleSoupShark5

#35 My Dad’s Tree Is Swallowing His Thermometer

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#36 30 Years Ago, My Grandfather Encased This Meatball In Epoxy

Image credits: throbbing_banjo

#37 Faded Sign From The “War On Drugs” Era

Image credits: FF7_Expert

#38 Found This At My Local Pharmacy

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#39 My Hands After Washing The Dishes For 20 Minutes

Image credits: TheProjectAlexander

#40 Basketball I Got 5 Years Ago vs. Basketball I Got Today

Image credits: Global-Elite-Spartan

#41 One Of My Kids Left A Shoe Outside

Image credits: darthcobra08

#42 Nature Swallows A Car In Hawaii

Image credits: fish_and_crips

#43 Years Of A Lock Grinding On A Brick

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#44 The Rain Melted The Shells Off The Exposed M&M’s I Found In A Parking Lot

Image credits: WhatHeSaidVO

#45 This Sun-Worn Sign Outside My Office That Looks Like It Belongs In A Horror Film

Image credits: Prairie17

#46 Old 3ds Found With Erosion And Barnacles Found While Diving

Image credits: Dori_toes

#47 A 39-Year-Old Fan Which Turns 40 Tomorrow

Image credits: MooseWithAntlers

#48 My Girlfriend Said You Guys Would Like This And I’m Not Sure Why

Image credits: ElderAtlas

#49 The Air Filter I Just Took Out Of My Lawnmower vs. The One I Replaced It With

Image credits: CourteousEnd785

#50 This Brick Wall Got Smoothed Into A Rock

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#51 100-Year-Old Logging Truck, Abandoned And Overgrown By The Trees It Once Helped Cut Down (Lynn Valley, British Columbia, Canada)

Image credits: laowarriah

#52 Wear Marks In The Floor Of A Repurposed Levi’s Denim Factory. Someone Spent Their Whole Life Working And Standing In This Spot. Lamy’s Building, Sedalia, MO

Image credits: rukeduke

#53 Three Years Ago I Hid A Golden Money Egg For An Easter Egg Hunt But The Egg Was Never Found… Until Now

Image credits: internetnobody23

#54 Wear-And-Tear On Playground Monkeybars Decreases As The Distance Increases

Image credits: ReinaSparks

#55 Gorilla Nose And Nips

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#56 The Counter At This Truck Stop

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#57 This Radiator Underneath A Hand Dryer In A Pub In Northern England

Image credits: IntermolecularCrayon

#58 The Grooves Left By The Drop Rods On The Exit Gates Of The Carousel At The Henry Ford Museum

Image credits: Josh_Your_IT_Guy

#59 4months Of A Sleep Guard. Never Thought I Used To Grind My Teeth

Image credits: thishasmyfaceonit

#60 Old Ice Pack Sprung A Leak, Had To Get A New One

Image credits: tastessogood

#61 Great Grandmother’s Potato Peeling Knife Still Used By My Grandmother In Her Late 80’s. She Says Her Mother Used It When She Was A Child

Image credits: FlabbyMilk

#62 The Spot Where Everyone Always Waits For The Elevator

Image credits: lbridgey

#63 Found Some Change That Had Been In The Brushes In The Clothes Dryer

Image credits: mooseaura

#64 Progression Of A Broom At A Machine Shop

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#65 This Raw Hotdog Someone Stuck On My Vans Antenna Nearly 2 Years Ago Is Skinny But Still Going Strong

Image credits: StevenDonovan

#66 Does This Count? Highlighter After A Week Of Nonstop Studying

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#67 This Is The Same Doll, One After 32 Years Of Love, The Other Still Pristine

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#68 We Found This Almost Identical Jacket Outside An Op Shop Today

Image credits: Hariato

#69 Years Of People Touching The Map At The “You Are Here” Spot

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#70 7 Year Old Fast Food. Noticed At A Doctor’s Office Today

Image credits: productiveslacker73

#71 New Yoda vs. 2-Years-Old Yoda

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#72 This Jigsaw Has Sat On My Coffee Table For So Long It Fused Into A Flexible Mat

Image credits: Cobalt-Red

#73 The Sticker On My High School Hat I’ve Had For 10 Years Fell Off Showing The Original Color

Image credits: Toxic_Don

#74 My Husband Bought Me A New Uno Deck To Replace My 20-Year-Old Deck

Image credits: Eka414

#75 Boyfriend Bought Me A New Alpaca (Left) After I Slept With The Old One (Right) Every Night For 6 Years

Image credits: ummameme

#76 Penny That Was Stuck In My Washer For Years

Image credits: DarkStarStorm

#77 I Think It Was About Time For New Tires On My RC Car

Image credits: DoctorWhoniverse

#78 My Old Skate Shoes vs. My Buddy’s New Ones

Image credits: TenMan77

#79 Well Worn Wooden Bench

Image credits: illshowyouruin

#80 The Difference Between Brand New Teeth And 800 Hours Of Digging

Image credits: TinyHomeGnome

#81 What UV Light Does To Wooden Floors When A Rug Is Placed In The Middle Of A Room

Image credits: llenorb

#82 This Tube Of Toothpaste Discolored Of Being By The Sun For Years

Image credits: deceased_rodent

#83 The Patch On My Jeans Came Off Revealing Its Original Color

Image credits: unupvotable

#84 The Wear Around Salon Seat

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#85 Manhole Cover, New vs. Old

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#86 New vs. 3-Year-Old Cat Scratching Post

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#87 You Nose Its Been Touched A Lot

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#88 Finally Got A New Pair Of Work Gloves. 2 Year Gap

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#89 Brand New Stored In Closet vs. 25 Years Of Use

Image credits: ground_wallnut

#90 My Friend’s Childhood Towel After 20 Years

Image credits: MyWholeLifelsThunder

#91 This Death Trap My Wife Calls An Oven Mitt

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#92 Climbing Brush, About 8 Years Of Use (Bottom) vs. No Use (Top)

Image credits: NMEMine

#93 Finally Got Around To Replacing The Casters On My 1950s Wooden Bankers Chair

Image credits: ApostateLibrarian

#94 This Diary Full Of Stickers/Papers My Boyfriend And I Collected Since May 2020

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#95 Here’s The Patina On A Knife I Made A Year Ago

Image credits: gari109

#96 This Box Of Crayons At The Corner Gas Station Lost Most Of Its Color

Image credits: Dmxmd

#97 Dug Up A Very Old Orange Crush Can In My Garden Yesterday

Image credits: Klabble

#98 IKEA Dish Soap Dispenser Tip

Image credits: andorand_too

#99 My Laptop Keyboard Protectors, 6 Years Apart

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#100 Before And After 18 Months Of Covid Lockdowns

Image credits: wiggienengit

#101 Handrail In A Stairwell At Work

Image credits: House_Tricky

#102 Some More Well Worn Brakes

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#103 The Cracks In My Screen Protector

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#104 The New And Old Pallet Jacks At My Work

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#105 Plastic Keyboard Cover At Work. I Work At A Dentist’s Practice In Germany. Tooth = Zahn, Hence The Z

Image credits: lonski97

#106 The Sun Has Bleached The Corner Of The Carpet In This Shop Window Over Time

Image credits: MortChateau

#107 Greasy Head Stains In Doctors Waiting Room

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#108 Gentlemen

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#109 My 10 Year Old Rubik’s vs. One That Just Arrived

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#110 Old Air Purifier Hepa Filter On The Left vs. Brand New One On The Right

Image credits: Aussieboy111

#111 I Have An Old Basketball In My Backyard That Has The Space Jam Logo On It

Image credits: reddit.com

#112 Old vs. New Leather Phone Case

Image credits: connorkmiec93

#113 I Found An Old Candy Dispenser With Melted Skittles

Image credits: bornonce

Source: boredpanda.com