This paper is based on observation of two settings: field archeology school and ordinary conversation. People keep track of multiple time frames simultaneously, and they way they do it is essential for making sense of conversation. The different kinds of time are constructed and made available to the participants in the activity through multiple means. These include special ways of speaking (verb tenses, changes of intonation indicating that the end of a idea is coming in a conversational exchange), gestures, and physical items in the environment (for example a coding form with room for temporal information).
