Explore an Era:
Holocene
11,000 BC - Today
 A long drought followed by a cooling trend |
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 Delaware and Chesapeake Bays form |
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 Modern forests develop on the peninsula |
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 Huge flocks of migrating birds appear in Delaware |
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 Woodland Indians practice agriculture |
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The Delaware Bay | 900 BC-600 BC
Approx. 900 BC
A radical shift in climate occurs. A drying trend, called a xerothermic, sweeps over the entire northern hemisphere. The prolonged drought kills off vast tracts of forest. Western prairie environments penetrate far to the east, and this restricts the range and populations of many of Delmarva’s woodland plants and animals.
Sometime after 800 B.C.
A cooling trend brings moisture to eastern North America and ends the 200+ year drought. Gradually, forests much like the ones we have today are seen on the peninsula. The Delaware and Chesapeake Bays filled to their present boundaries and become havens for huge flocks of migrating birds.
Agriculture begins to be practiced on the peninsula. The Woodland people clear garden plots on the river floodplains by peeling off the bark of trees and burning stacks of the dry wood at their bases. Crops are then planted between the dead trees, to be used until the soil is depleted of nutrients.