diff --git a/storage/local/persistence.go b/storage/local/persistence.go
index fba1fdc36..646075dbc 100644
--- a/storage/local/persistence.go
+++ b/storage/local/persistence.go
@@ -259,7 +259,8 @@ func (p *persistence) setDirty(dirty bool) {
 
 // crashRecovery is called by loadSeriesMapAndHeads if the persistence appears
 // to be dirty after the loading (either because the loading resulted in an
-// error or because the persistence was dirty from the start).
+// error or because the persistence was dirty from the start). Not goroutine
+// safe. Only call before anything else is running.
 func (p *persistence) crashRecovery(fingerprintToSeries map[clientmodel.Fingerprint]*memorySeries) error {
 	glog.Warning("Starting crash recovery. Prometheus is inoperational until complete.")
 
@@ -1040,42 +1041,56 @@ func (p *persistence) loadSeriesMapAndHeads() (sm *seriesMap, err error) {
 }
 
 // dropChunks deletes all chunks from a series whose last sample time is before
-// beforeTime. It returns the number of deleted chunks and true if all chunks of
-// the series have been deleted.  It is the caller's responsibility to make sure
-// nothing is persisted or loaded for the same fingerprint concurrently.
-func (p *persistence) dropChunks(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint, beforeTime clientmodel.Timestamp) (int, bool, error) {
+// beforeTime. It returns the timestamp of the first sample in the oldest chunk
+// _not_ dropped, the number of deleted chunks, and true if all chunks of the
+// series have been deleted (in which case the returned timestamp will be 0 and
+// must be ignored).  It is the caller's responsibility to make sure nothing is
+// persisted or loaded for the same fingerprint concurrently.
+func (p *persistence) dropChunks(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint, beforeTime clientmodel.Timestamp) (
+	firstTimeNotDropped clientmodel.Timestamp,
+	numDropped int,
+	allDropped bool,
+	err error,
+) {
+	defer func() {
+		if err != nil {
+			p.setDirty(true)
+		}
+	}()
 	f, err := p.openChunkFileForReading(fp)
 	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		return 0, true, nil
+		return 0, 0, true, nil
 	}
 	if err != nil {
-		return 0, false, err
+		return 0, 0, false, err
 	}
 	defer f.Close()
 
 	// Find the first chunk that should be kept.
 	var i int
+	var firstTime clientmodel.Timestamp
 	for ; ; i++ {
-		_, err := f.Seek(p.offsetForChunkIndex(i)+chunkHeaderLastTimeOffset, os.SEEK_SET)
+		_, err := f.Seek(p.offsetForChunkIndex(i)+chunkHeaderFirstTimeOffset, os.SEEK_SET)
 		if err != nil {
-			return 0, false, err
+			return 0, 0, false, err
 		}
-		lastTimeBuf := make([]byte, 8)
-		_, err = io.ReadAtLeast(f, lastTimeBuf, 8)
+		timeBuf := make([]byte, 16)
+		_, err = io.ReadAtLeast(f, timeBuf, 16)
 		if err == io.EOF {
 			// We ran into the end of the file without finding any chunks that should
 			// be kept. Remove the whole file.
 			chunkOps.WithLabelValues(purge).Add(float64(i))
 			if err := os.Remove(f.Name()); err != nil {
-				return 0, true, err
+				return 0, 0, true, err
 			}
-			return i, true, nil
+			return 0, i, true, nil
 		}
 		if err != nil {
-			return 0, false, err
+			return 0, 0, false, err
 		}
-		lastTime := clientmodel.Timestamp(binary.LittleEndian.Uint64(lastTimeBuf))
+		lastTime := clientmodel.Timestamp(binary.LittleEndian.Uint64(timeBuf[8:]))
 		if !lastTime.Before(beforeTime) {
+			firstTime = clientmodel.Timestamp(binary.LittleEndian.Uint64(timeBuf))
 			chunkOps.WithLabelValues(purge).Add(float64(i))
 			break
 		}
@@ -1084,25 +1099,25 @@ func (p *persistence) dropChunks(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint, beforeTime clientmo
 	// We've found the first chunk that should be kept. Seek backwards to the
 	// beginning of its header and start copying everything from there into a new
 	// file.
-	_, err = f.Seek(-(chunkHeaderLastTimeOffset + 8), os.SEEK_CUR)
+	_, err = f.Seek(-(chunkHeaderFirstTimeOffset + 16), os.SEEK_CUR)
 	if err != nil {
-		return 0, false, err
+		return 0, 0, false, err
 	}
 
 	temp, err := os.OpenFile(p.tempFileNameForFingerprint(fp), os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE, 0640)
 	if err != nil {
-		return 0, false, err
+		return 0, 0, false, err
 	}
 	defer temp.Close()
 
 	if _, err := io.Copy(temp, f); err != nil {
-		return 0, false, err
+		return 0, 0, false, err
 	}
 
 	if err := os.Rename(p.tempFileNameForFingerprint(fp), p.fileNameForFingerprint(fp)); err != nil {
-		return 0, false, err
+		return 0, 0, false, err
 	}
-	return i, false, nil
+	return firstTime, i, false, nil
 }
 
 // indexMetric queues the given metric for addition to the indexes needed by
@@ -1148,9 +1163,11 @@ func (p *persistence) archiveMetric(
 	defer p.archiveMtx.Unlock()
 
 	if err := p.archivedFingerprintToMetrics.Put(codable.Fingerprint(fp), codable.Metric(m)); err != nil {
+		p.setDirty(true)
 		return err
 	}
 	if err := p.archivedFingerprintToTimeRange.Put(codable.Fingerprint(fp), codable.TimeRange{First: first, Last: last}); err != nil {
+		p.setDirty(true)
 		return err
 	}
 	return nil
@@ -1166,6 +1183,15 @@ func (p *persistence) hasArchivedMetric(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint) (
 	return
 }
 
+// updateArchivedTimeRange updates an archived time range. The caller must make
+// sure that the fingerprint is currently archived (the time range will
+// otherwise be added without the corresponding metric in the archive).
+func (p *persistence) updateArchivedTimeRange(
+	fp clientmodel.Fingerprint, first, last clientmodel.Timestamp,
+) error {
+	return p.archivedFingerprintToTimeRange.Put(codable.Fingerprint(fp), codable.TimeRange{First: first, Last: last})
+}
+
 // getFingerprintsModifiedBefore returns the fingerprints of archived timeseries
 // that have live samples before the provided timestamp. This method is
 // goroutine-safe.
@@ -1204,7 +1230,13 @@ func (p *persistence) getArchivedMetric(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint) (clientmodel
 // dropArchivedMetric deletes an archived fingerprint and its corresponding
 // metric entirely. It also queues the metric for un-indexing (no need to call
 // unindexMetric for the deleted metric.)  This method is goroutine-safe.
-func (p *persistence) dropArchivedMetric(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint) error {
+func (p *persistence) dropArchivedMetric(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint) (err error) {
+	defer func() {
+		if err != nil {
+			p.setDirty(true)
+		}
+	}()
+
 	p.archiveMtx.Lock()
 	defer p.archiveMtx.Unlock()
 
diff --git a/storage/local/persistence_test.go b/storage/local/persistence_test.go
index 0f9e24548..a395a6360 100644
--- a/storage/local/persistence_test.go
+++ b/storage/local/persistence_test.go
@@ -138,10 +138,13 @@ func TestPersistLoadDropChunks(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	// Drop half of the chunks.
 	for fp, expectedChunks := range fpToChunks {
-		numDropped, allDropped, err := p.dropChunks(fp, 5)
+		firstTime, numDropped, allDropped, err := p.dropChunks(fp, 5)
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}
+		if firstTime != 5 {
+			t.Errorf("want first time 5, got %d", firstTime)
+		}
 		if numDropped != 5 {
 			t.Errorf("want 5 dropped chunks, got %v", numDropped)
 		}
@@ -164,7 +167,10 @@ func TestPersistLoadDropChunks(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	// Drop all the chunks.
 	for fp := range fpToChunks {
-		numDropped, allDropped, err := p.dropChunks(fp, 100)
+		firstTime, numDropped, allDropped, err := p.dropChunks(fp, 100)
+		if firstTime != 0 {
+			t.Errorf("want first time 0, got %d", firstTime)
+		}
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}
diff --git a/storage/local/storage.go b/storage/local/storage.go
index fcb5a4632..a3db42841 100644
--- a/storage/local/storage.go
+++ b/storage/local/storage.go
@@ -485,7 +485,6 @@ func (s *memorySeriesStorage) loop() {
 						m.fp, m.series.metric, m.series.firstTime(), m.series.lastTime(),
 					); err != nil {
 						glog.Errorf("Error archiving metric %v: %v", m.series.metric, err)
-						s.persistence.setDirty(true)
 					} else {
 						s.seriesOps.WithLabelValues(archive).Inc()
 					}
@@ -523,7 +522,7 @@ func (s *memorySeriesStorage) loop() {
 			for _, fp := range persistedFPs {
 				select {
 				case <-s.loopStopping:
-					glog.Info("Interrupted purnging series.")
+					glog.Info("Interrupted purging series.")
 					return
 				default:
 					s.purgeSeries(fp, ts)
@@ -536,22 +535,22 @@ func (s *memorySeriesStorage) loop() {
 	}
 }
 
-// purgeSeries purges chunks older than persistenceRetentionPeriod from a
-// series. If the series contains no chunks after the purge, it is dropped
-// entirely.
+// purgeSeries purges chunks older than beforeTime from a series. If the series
+// contains no chunks after the purge, it is dropped entirely.
 func (s *memorySeriesStorage) purgeSeries(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint, beforeTime clientmodel.Timestamp) {
 	s.fpLocker.Lock(fp)
 	defer s.fpLocker.Unlock(fp)
 
-	// First purge persisted chunks. We need to do that anyway.
-	numDropped, allDropped, err := s.persistence.dropChunks(fp, beforeTime)
-	if err != nil {
-		glog.Error("Error purging persisted chunks: ", err)
-		s.persistence.setDirty(true)
-	}
-
-	// Purge chunks from memory accordingly.
 	if series, ok := s.fpToSeries.get(fp); ok {
+		// Deal with series in memory.
+		if !series.firstTime().Before(beforeTime) {
+			// Oldest sample not old enough.
+			return
+		}
+		newFirstTime, numDropped, allDropped, err := s.persistence.dropChunks(fp, beforeTime)
+		if err != nil {
+			glog.Error("Error purging persisted chunks: ", err)
+		}
 		numPurged, allPurged := series.purgeOlderThan(beforeTime)
 		if allPurged && allDropped {
 			s.fpToSeries.del(fp)
@@ -559,6 +558,7 @@ func (s *memorySeriesStorage) purgeSeries(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint, beforeTime
 			s.seriesOps.WithLabelValues(memoryPurge).Inc()
 			s.persistence.unindexMetric(fp, series.metric)
 		} else if series.chunkDescsOffset != -1 {
+			series.savedFirstTime = newFirstTime
 			series.chunkDescsOffset += numPurged - numDropped
 			if series.chunkDescsOffset < 0 {
 				panic("dropped more chunks from persistence than from memory")
@@ -567,20 +567,30 @@ func (s *memorySeriesStorage) purgeSeries(fp clientmodel.Fingerprint, beforeTime
 		return
 	}
 
-	// If we arrive here, nothing was in memory, so the metric must have
-	// been archived. Drop the archived metric if there are no persisted
-	// chunks left. If we don't drop the archived metric, we should update
-	// the archivedFingerprintToTimeRange index according to the remaining
-	// chunks, but it's probably not worth the effort. Queries going beyond
-	// the purge cut-off can be truncated in a more direct fashion.
+	// Deal with archived series.
+	has, firstTime, lastTime, err := s.persistence.hasArchivedMetric(fp)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Error("Error looking up archived time range: ", err)
+		return
+	}
+	if !has || !firstTime.Before(beforeTime) {
+		// Oldest sample not old enough, or metric purged or unarchived in the meantime.
+		return
+	}
+
+	newFirstTime, _, allDropped, err := s.persistence.dropChunks(fp, beforeTime)
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.Error("Error purging persisted chunks: ", err)
+	}
 	if allDropped {
 		if err := s.persistence.dropArchivedMetric(fp); err != nil {
 			glog.Errorf("Error dropping archived metric for fingerprint %v: %v", fp, err)
-			s.persistence.setDirty(true)
-		} else {
-			s.seriesOps.WithLabelValues(archivePurge).Inc()
+			return
 		}
+		s.seriesOps.WithLabelValues(archivePurge).Inc()
+		return
 	}
+	s.persistence.updateArchivedTimeRange(fp, newFirstTime, lastTime)
 }
 
 // To expose persistQueueCap as metric:
diff --git a/storage/local/storage_test.go b/storage/local/storage_test.go
index 51d4b7944..20b48a773 100644
--- a/storage/local/storage_test.go
+++ b/storage/local/storage_test.go
@@ -471,8 +471,8 @@ func TestFuzz(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// BenchmarkFuzz is the benchmark version TestFuzz. However, it will run several
-// append and verify operations in parallel, if GOMAXPROC is set
+// BenchmarkFuzz is the benchmark version of TestFuzz. However, it will run
+// several append and verify operations in parallel, if GOMAXPROC is set
 // accordingly. Also, the storage options are set such that evictions,
 // checkpoints, and purging will happen concurrently, too. This benchmark will
 // have a very long runtime (up to minutes). You can use it as an actual