PAST: PALEONTOLOGICAL STATISTICAL SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOR EDUCATION AND DATA ANALYSIS

TLDR

Paleontological and ecological analyses lack many functions found in standard statistical packages. The authors developed a comprehensive, user‑friendly software package to perform standard numerical analyses in quantitative paleontology. PAST is a free Windows application that integrates spreadsheet data entry with univariate and multivariate statistics, curve fitting, time‑series analysis, data plotting, and simple phylogenetic analysis. The package includes fourteen case studies and exercises that demonstrate its use in paleontological problems, providing a complete educational resource for quantitative methods courses.

Abstract

A comprehensive, but simple-to-use software package for executing a range of standard numerical analysis and operations used in quantitative paleontology has been developed. The program, called PAST (PAleontological STatistics), runs on standard Windows computers and is available free of charge. PAST integrates spreadsheet-type data entry with univariate and multivariate statistics, curve fitting, timeseries analysis, data plotting, and simple phylogenetic analysis. Many of the functions are specific to paleontology and ecology, and these functions are not found in standard, more extensive, statistical packages. PAST also includes fourteen case studies (data files and exercises) illustrating use of the program for paleontological problems, making it a complete educational package for courses in quantitative methods.