The goal of this paper is to explore the ways solidity and fluidity have been articulated in relation to understandings of time and the archaeological record. It reflects on the paradox that led the 17th-century Danish scholar Nicholas Steno to write one of the first discourses on stratigraphy: how can solid objects (such as fossils) occur within other solid objects (rock)? His dissertation (De solido intra solidum naturalitur contento, 1669) offered the simple solution: the containing solid was once a fluid. However, such a solution came at a cost which still haunts contemporary understanding of the archaeological record: a bifurcation of time into past and present expressed through the ideas of archaeological statics and dynamics. In addressing the way ‘solid fluids’ are entangled with time and archaeological stratigraphy, this paper attempts to draw novel perspectives on all three.

本文的目的是探索与时间和考古记录的理解相关的坚固性和流动性的表达方式。它反映了导致 17 世纪丹麦学者 Nicholas Steno 撰写关于地层学的第一篇论文之一的悖论：固体物体（如化石）如何存在于其他固体物体（岩石）中？他的论文 ( Desolido intrasolidum naturalitur contento, 1669) 提供了一个简单的解决方案：包含的固体曾经是一种流体。然而，这样的解决方案所付出的代价仍然困扰着当代对考古记录的理解：通过考古静力学和动力学的思想表达过去和现在的时间分叉。为了解决“固体流体”与时间和考古地层纠缠的方式，本文试图对这三者提出新的观点。