Holocene

11,000 BC - Today

11,000 BC
3000 BC
900 BC
600 BC
1500 AD
1700 AD
1900 AD
Present Day

Continued warming trend		Delaware and Chesapeake Bays form				Shellfish communities form in the Bays		Early Native American Settlements

The Delaware Bay | 3000 BC-900 BC

3000 BC

Start of the so-called Woodland Period. The rising sea began to drown the ancient Delaware and Susquehanna river valleys, gradually transforming them into the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays.

1200 BC

The rate of which the sea rose slowed enough to allow development of estuarine shellfish communities. Stone cooking bowls and rudimentary ceramics appear in the archaeological record for the first time. The advent of cooking and more permanent villages of these early people would only be possible if there was a reliable source of food.