diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client.rs
index e68f16e44b..20c148a9c5 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client.rs
@@ -205,6 +205,7 @@ pub mod index;
 mod upload;
 
 use anyhow::Context;
+use chrono::Utc;
 // re-export these
 pub use download::{is_temp_download_file, list_remote_timelines};
 
@@ -392,7 +393,7 @@ impl RemoteTimelineClient {
         )
         .await?;
 
-        if index_part.is_deleted {
+        if index_part.deleted_at.is_some() {
             Ok(MaybeDeletedIndexPart::Deleted)
         } else {
             Ok(MaybeDeletedIndexPart::IndexPart(index_part))
@@ -644,10 +645,10 @@ impl RemoteTimelineClient {
             };
 
             assert!(
-                !stopped.last_uploaded_index_part.is_deleted,
-                "deleted flag already set"
+                stopped.last_uploaded_index_part.deleted_at.is_none(),
+                "deleted_at already set"
             );
-            stopped.last_uploaded_index_part.is_deleted = true;
+            stopped.last_uploaded_index_part.deleted_at = Some(Utc::now().naive_utc());
             stopped.last_uploaded_index_part.clone()
         };
 
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client/index.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client/index.rs
index 6cf168f2ea..7a06e57a6b 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client/index.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/remote_timeline_client/index.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
 
+use chrono::NaiveDateTime;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use serde_with::{serde_as, DisplayFromStr};
 
@@ -40,11 +41,6 @@ impl LayerFileMetadata {
     }
 }
 
-// Shortcut to skip serializing false in IndexPart below
-fn is_false(b: &bool) -> bool {
-    !b
-}
-
 // TODO seems like another part of the remote storage file format
 // compatibility issue, see https://github.com/neondatabase/neon/issues/3072
 /// In-memory representation of an `index_part.json` file
@@ -61,8 +57,8 @@ pub struct IndexPart {
     version: usize,
 
     #[serde(default)]
-    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "is_false")]
-    pub is_deleted: bool,
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub deleted_at: Option<NaiveDateTime>,
 
     /// Layer names, which are stored on the remote storage.
     ///
@@ -110,7 +106,7 @@ impl IndexPart {
             layer_metadata,
             disk_consistent_lsn,
             metadata_bytes,
-            is_deleted: false,
+            deleted_at: None,
         }
     }
 
@@ -166,7 +162,7 @@ mod tests {
             ]),
             disk_consistent_lsn: "0/16960E8".parse::<Lsn>().unwrap(),
             metadata_bytes: [113,11,159,210,0,54,0,4,0,0,0,0,1,105,96,232,1,0,0,0,0,1,105,96,112,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,105,96,112,0,0,0,0,1,105,96,112,0,0,0,14,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0].to_vec(),
-            is_deleted: false,
+            deleted_at: None,
         };
 
         let part = serde_json::from_str::<IndexPart>(example).unwrap();
@@ -203,7 +199,7 @@ mod tests {
             ]),
             disk_consistent_lsn: "0/16960E8".parse::<Lsn>().unwrap(),
             metadata_bytes: [112,11,159,210,0,54,0,4,0,0,0,0,1,105,96,232,1,0,0,0,0,1,105,96,112,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,105,96,112,0,0,0,0,1,105,96,112,0,0,0,14,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0].to_vec(),
-            is_deleted: false,
+            deleted_at: None,
         };
 
         let part = serde_json::from_str::<IndexPart>(example).unwrap();
@@ -248,7 +244,7 @@ mod tests {
                 0, 0,
             ]
             .to_vec(),
-            is_deleted: false,
+            deleted_at: None,
         };
 
         let empty_layers_parsed = serde_json::from_str::<IndexPart>(empty_layers_json).unwrap();