date back

date back

To have originated at an earlier time. This phrase is often followed by "to" and then the corresponding time frame or historical figure. I know she thinks that this vase is some great antique, but I doubt it dates back more than 30 years. This vase dates back to the Victorian period. This vase dates back to Queen Victoria.
See also: back, date
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

date back (to someone or some time)

to have origins that extend back to the time of someone or something. This part of the palace dates back to Catherine the Great. This is old! It really must date back.
See also: back, date
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • at all hours
  • at all hours (of the day and night)
  • along about
  • before last
  • any time means no time
  • against time
  • against the clock
  • any time
  • arrow of time
  • (it's) time to run
References in periodicals archive
The three abstract squares found in Long Hole cave in Cheddar, Somerset, are believed to date back 10,000 years to the Mesolithic Period.
The alleged offences involve former pupils aged 11 to 13 and date back to the 70s and 80s.
Their samples date back 40,000 years, into the middle of the last ice age.
The oldest proteins generally accepted by scientists date back only 1 or 2 million years, Hare says.
The cases date back as far as 1970, when the body of a man was found near a railway line in Slough.
Hasaka-Aleppo, (SANA)-20 archeological finds were unearthed at Tell Brak site in Hasaka, the oldest of which date back to 3800 years B.C.
Jabbur said that the findings date back to the Byzantine period and the status of the jar within the ground and its large size indicate that it was used for grain storage, pointing out that the jar and other findings transferred to Homs Antiquities Department.
This fossil is one of a handful of the earliest known agnathanfossils, all of which date back to the Ordovician period.
The items also include a large collection of liquid vessels of various shapes and sizes, as well as crockery and colored pots, a large number of dishes which date back to the Greek, Roman and Byzantine periods and large quantities of glazed pottery decorated with geometric and vegetal drawings dating back to the Islamic era.
Its archeological levels date back to the Bronze and Iron Ages and the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods, Head of Idleb Antiquities Department, Nicola Kabbad, said.
Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Ministry of Antiquities, said that the mission discovered several rock slabs with paintings and inscriptions on them, some of which date back to the Predynastic and Protodynastic era, along with burial tumuli, some of which dating back to the Protodynastic Period, while others dating back to the Late Roman era.
The temple is considered to be the last stone temple that dates back to the Persian El-Sawy era that also depicts El-Kabsh Road that dates back to Ptolemy era, and Persian gates that date back to the ruling of King Darweis I.
The section includes a basalt sculpture for two structures of Human being, and two bulls carrying a plate, a statue of goddess Ishtar, in addition to the sculpture of the flying man which all date back to the first millennium BC.
Hama, Central Syria, (SANA) -- The national archeological expedition at Mesyaf Citadel in Hama has discovered a number of Islamic coins and pottery candles dating back to the Ayyubid era.Supervisor of the expedition Haitham Hassan said excavation works in the site included the grand hall of the citadel along with the water building bloc, pointing out that excavations in the third tower have uncovered a wide range of Islamic coins and pottery pieces.He added that architectural analyses and studies of the building blocs proved that construction stages date back to the period starting from the 11th century to the Ottoman period.
Al-Aouda indicated that the clay lanterns are the most important archeological discoveries at Bosra Amphitheatre because they are one of the most ancient archeological findings in the city which date back to the Iron and the Hellenistic Ages.