In anthropology, the debate on time traditionally opposes the universalists to the relativists. This article attempts to escape the opposition, claiming that while anthropology cannot demonstrate the existence of a universal individual notion of time, it can unveil a number of general characteristics of ‘social time’ which transcends the relativity of its representations. Using a Papua New-Guinean case study, a minimal definition of ‘social time’ is then provided, along with the hypothesis that every society requires at least two different and hierarchically ordered conceptions of time. This co-existence of diverse times questions in turn the category of history as an analytical tool in anthropology.