diff --git a/libguile/array-handle.h b/libguile/array-handle.h
index 137371eeb..6ad80eb41 100644
--- a/libguile/array-handle.h
+++ b/libguile/array-handle.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #ifndef SCM_ARRAY_HANDLE_H
 #define SCM_ARRAY_HANDLE_H
 
-/* Copyright 1995-1997,1999-2001,2004,2006,2008-2009,2011,2013-2014,2018
+/* Copyright 1995-1997,1999-2001,2004,2006,2008-2009,2011,2013-2014,2018,2021
      Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 
    This file is part of Guile.
@@ -25,19 +25,13 @@
 #include "libguile/error.h"
 #include "libguile/inline.h"
 #include "libguile/numbers.h"
+#include "libguile/arrays.h"
 
 
 
 typedef SCM (*scm_t_vector_ref) (SCM, size_t);
 typedef void (*scm_t_vector_set) (SCM, size_t, SCM);
 
-typedef struct scm_t_array_dim
-{
-  ssize_t lbnd;
-  ssize_t ubnd;
-  ssize_t inc;
-} scm_t_array_dim;
-
 typedef enum
   {
     SCM_ARRAY_ELEMENT_TYPE_SCM = 0,   /* SCM values */
diff --git a/libguile/array-map.c b/libguile/array-map.c
index 92a249bf9..ce0f7ba09 100644
--- a/libguile/array-map.c
+++ b/libguile/array-map.c
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@ SCM
 scm_i_array_rebase (SCM a, size_t base)
 {
     size_t ndim = SCM_I_ARRAY_NDIM (a);
-    SCM b = scm_words (((scm_t_bits) ndim << 17) + scm_tc7_array, 3 + ndim*3);
+    SCM b = scm_i_raw_array (ndim);
     SCM_I_ARRAY_SET_V (b, SCM_I_ARRAY_V (a));
 /* FIXME do check base */
     SCM_I_ARRAY_SET_BASE (b, base);
diff --git a/libguile/arrays.c b/libguile/arrays.c
index f4eddd90a..924ee0094 100644
--- a/libguile/arrays.c
+++ b/libguile/arrays.c
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@
 #include "strings.h"
 #include "uniform.h"
 #include "vectors.h"
-#include "verify.h"
 
 #include "arrays.h"
 
@@ -493,16 +492,11 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_shared_array_increments, "shared-array-increments", 1, 0, 0,
 }
 #undef FUNC_NAME
 
-/* FIXME: to avoid this assumption, fix the accessors in arrays.h,
-   scm_i_make_array, and the array cases in system/vm/assembler.scm. */
 
-verify (sizeof (scm_t_array_dim) == 3*sizeof (scm_t_bits));
-
-/* Matching SCM_I_ARRAY accessors in arrays.h */
 SCM
 scm_i_make_array (int ndim)
 {
-  SCM ra = scm_words (((scm_t_bits) ndim << 17) + scm_tc7_array, 3 + ndim*3);
+  SCM ra = scm_i_raw_array (ndim);
   SCM_I_ARRAY_SET_V (ra, SCM_BOOL_F);
   SCM_I_ARRAY_SET_BASE (ra, 0);
   /* dimensions are unset */
@@ -566,7 +560,6 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_make_typed_array, "make-typed-array", 2, 0, 1,
   SCM ra;
 
   ra = scm_i_shap2ra (bounds);
-  SCM_SET_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS_FLAG (ra);
   s = SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS (ra);
   k = SCM_I_ARRAY_NDIM (ra);
 
@@ -600,28 +593,6 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_make_array, "make-array", 1, 0, 1,
 }
 #undef FUNC_NAME
 
-/* see scm_from_contiguous_array */
-static void
-scm_i_ra_set_contp (SCM ra)
-{
-  size_t k = SCM_I_ARRAY_NDIM (ra);
-  if (k)
-    {
-      ssize_t inc = SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS (ra)[k - 1].inc;
-      while (k--)
-        {
-          if (inc != SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS (ra)[k].inc)
-            {
-              SCM_CLR_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS_FLAG (ra);
-              return;
-            }
-          inc *= (SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS (ra)[k].ubnd
-                  - SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS (ra)[k].lbnd + 1);
-        }
-    }
-  SCM_SET_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS_FLAG (ra);
-}
-
 
 SCM_DEFINE (scm_make_shared_array, "make-shared-array", 2, 0, 1,
             (SCM oldra, SCM mapfunc, SCM dims),
@@ -735,7 +706,6 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_make_shared_array, "make-shared-array", 2, 0, 1,
         return scm_make_generalized_vector (scm_array_type (ra), SCM_INUM0,
                                             SCM_UNDEFINED);
     }
-  scm_i_ra_set_contp (ra);
   return ra;
 }
 #undef FUNC_NAME
@@ -1006,7 +976,6 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_transpose_array, "transpose-array", 1, 0, 1,
         }
       if (ndim > 0)
         SCM_MISC_ERROR ("bad argument list", SCM_EOL);
-      scm_i_ra_set_contp (res);
       return res;
     }
 }
diff --git a/libguile/arrays.h b/libguile/arrays.h
index 494645d72..e427eab20 100644
--- a/libguile/arrays.h
+++ b/libguile/arrays.h
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 
 
 #include "libguile/print.h"
-#include "libguile/array-handle.h"
 
 
 
@@ -85,26 +84,31 @@ SCM_API SCM scm_array_ref (SCM v, SCM args);
 SCM_API SCM scm_array_set_x (SCM v, SCM obj, SCM args);
 SCM_API SCM scm_array_to_list (SCM v);
 
+typedef struct scm_t_array_dim
+{
+  ssize_t lbnd;
+  ssize_t ubnd;
+  ssize_t inc;
+} scm_t_array_dim;
+
 /* internal. */
 
-/* see scm_from_contiguous_array  for these three */
-#define SCM_I_ARRAY_FLAG_CONTIGUOUS (1 << 0)  
-#define SCM_SET_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS_FLAG(x) \
-  (SCM_SET_CELL_WORD_0 ((x), SCM_CELL_WORD_0 (x) | (SCM_I_ARRAY_FLAG_CONTIGUOUS << 16)))
-#define SCM_CLR_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS_FLAG(x) \
-  (SCM_SET_CELL_WORD_0 ((x), SCM_CELL_WORD_0 (x) & ~(SCM_I_ARRAY_FLAG_CONTIGUOUS << 16)))
-
 #define SCM_I_ARRAYP(a)	    SCM_TYP16_PREDICATE (scm_tc7_array, a)
-#define SCM_I_ARRAY_NDIM(x)  ((size_t) (SCM_CELL_WORD_0 (x)>>17))
-#define SCM_I_ARRAY_CONTP(x) (SCM_CELL_WORD_0 (x) & (SCM_I_ARRAY_FLAG_CONTIGUOUS << 16))
-
+#define SCM_I_ARRAY_NDIM(x)  ((size_t) (SCM_CELL_WORD_0 (x)>>16))
 #define SCM_I_ARRAY_V(a)    SCM_CELL_OBJECT_1 (a)
 #define SCM_I_ARRAY_BASE(a) ((size_t) SCM_CELL_WORD_2 (a))
 #define SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS(a) ((scm_t_array_dim *) SCM_CELL_OBJECT_LOC (a, 3))
-
 #define SCM_I_ARRAY_SET_V(a, v)       SCM_SET_CELL_OBJECT_1(a, v)
 #define SCM_I_ARRAY_SET_BASE(a, base) SCM_SET_CELL_WORD_2(a, base)
 
+/* See the array cases in system/vm/assembler.scm. */
+
+static inline SCM
+scm_i_raw_array (int ndim)
+{
+  return scm_words (((scm_t_bits) ndim << 16) + scm_tc7_array, 3 + ndim*3);
+}
+
 SCM_INTERNAL SCM scm_i_make_array (int ndim);
 SCM_INTERNAL int scm_i_print_array (SCM array, SCM port, scm_print_state *pstate);
 SCM_INTERNAL SCM scm_i_shap2ra (SCM args);
diff --git a/libguile/deprecated.c b/libguile/deprecated.c
index 7ec08ec50..277a4d9ed 100644
--- a/libguile/deprecated.c
+++ b/libguile/deprecated.c
@@ -608,7 +608,6 @@ scm_from_contiguous_typed_array (SCM type, SCM bounds, const void *bytes,
      "to copy data to the new array.");
 
   ra = scm_i_shap2ra (bounds);
-  SCM_SET_ARRAY_CONTIGUOUS_FLAG (ra);
   s = SCM_I_ARRAY_DIMS (ra);
   k = SCM_I_ARRAY_NDIM (ra);
 
diff --git a/module/system/vm/assembler.scm b/module/system/vm/assembler.scm
index d4c9de86d..ea50b5bb6 100644
--- a/module/system/vm/assembler.scm
+++ b/module/system/vm/assembler.scm
@@ -2061,8 +2061,9 @@ should be .data or .rodata), and return the resulting linker object.
 
        ((array? obj)
         (let-values
-            ;; array tag + rank + contp flag: see libguile/arrays.h .
-            (((tag) (logior tc7-array (ash (array-rank obj) 17) (ash 1 16)))
+            ;; array tag + rank
+            ;; see libguile/arrays.h: SCM_I_ARRAY_NDIM, SCM_I_ARRAYP, scm_i_raw_array
+            (((tag) (logior tc7-array (ash (array-rank obj) 16)))
              ((bv-set! bvs-set!)
               (case word-size
                 ((4) (values bytevector-u32-set! bytevector-s32-set!))