diff --git a/src/fdb5/api/FDB.cc b/src/fdb5/api/FDB.cc
index 54f1dd3c2..ec5059960 100644
--- a/src/fdb5/api/FDB.cc
+++ b/src/fdb5/api/FDB.cc
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 #include "fdb5/database/Key.h"
 #include "fdb5/io/HandleGatherer.h"
 #include "fdb5/message/MessageDecoder.h"
+#include "fdb5/types/Type.h"
 
 namespace fdb5 {
 
@@ -100,33 +101,24 @@ void FDB::archive(const Key& key, const void* data, size_t length) {
     eckit::Timer timer;
     timer.start();
 
-<<<<<<< HEAD
-    auto stepunit = key.find("stepunits");
-    if (stepunit != key.end()) {
-        Key k;
-        for (auto it : key) {
-            if (it.first == "step" && stepunit->second.size()>0 && stepunit->second[0]!='h') {
-                // TODO - enable canonical representation of step (as soon as Metkit supports it)
-                std::string canonicalStep = it.second+stepunit->second; // k.registry().lookupType("step").toKey("step", it.second+stepunit->second);
-                k.set(it.first, canonicalStep);
-            } else {
-                if (it.first != "stepunits") {
-                    k.set(it.first, it.second);
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        internal_->archive(k, data, length);
-    } else {
-        internal_->archive(key, data, length);
-    }
-=======
     // This is the API entrypoint. Keys supplied by the user may not have type registry info attached (so
     // serialisation won't work properly...)
     Key keyInternal(key);
     keyInternal.registry(config().schema().registry());
 
+    // step in archival requests from the model is just an integer. We need to include the stepunit
+    auto stepunit = keyInternal.find("stepunits");
+    if (stepunit != keyInternal.end()) {
+        if (stepunit->second.size()>0 && stepunit->second[0]!='h') {
+            auto step = keyInternal.find("step");
+            if (step != keyInternal.end()) {
+                std::string canonicalStep = keyInternal.registry().lookupType("step").toKey("step", step->second+stepunit->second);
+            }
+        }
+        keyInternal.unset("stepunits");
+    }
+
     internal_->archive(keyInternal, data, length);
->>>>>>> c062d99a (FDB-303: Remove Rule from the Key, and replace with TypesRegistry information)
     dirty_ = true;
 
     timer.stop();