diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index e36b462d8e..46c2c9d032 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -2592,6 +2592,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "bincode",
  "byteorder",
  "bytes",
+ "crossbeam-utils",
  "hex",
  "hex-literal",
  "hyper",
diff --git a/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs b/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
index bb9d8af112..5d36c7873a 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/layered_repository.rs
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ use lazy_static::lazy_static;
 use log::*;
 use postgres_ffi::pg_constants::BLCKSZ;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use zenith_utils::batch_fsync::batch_fsync;
 
 use std::collections::hash_map::Entry;
 use std::collections::HashMap;
@@ -1442,9 +1443,9 @@ impl LayeredTimeline {
         if created_historics {
             // We must fsync the timeline dir to ensure the directory entries for
             // new layer files are durable
-            let timeline_dir =
-                File::open(self.conf.timeline_path(&self.timelineid, &self.tenantid))?;
-            timeline_dir.sync_all()?;
+            layer_uploads.push(self.conf.timeline_path(&self.timelineid, &self.tenantid));
+            batch_fsync(&layer_uploads)?;
+            layer_uploads.pop().unwrap();
         }
 
         // Save the metadata, with updated 'disk_consistent_lsn', to a
diff --git a/pageserver/src/layered_repository/delta_layer.rs b/pageserver/src/layered_repository/delta_layer.rs
index e93eddb7e6..e84fef2033 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/layered_repository/delta_layer.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/layered_repository/delta_layer.rs
@@ -431,8 +431,7 @@ impl DeltaLayer {
         let book = chapter.close()?;
 
         // This flushes the underlying 'buf_writer'.
-        let writer = book.close()?;
-        writer.get_ref().sync_all()?;
+        book.close()?;
 
         trace!("saved {}", &path.display());
 
diff --git a/pageserver/src/layered_repository/image_layer.rs b/pageserver/src/layered_repository/image_layer.rs
index 744f793558..72ac7248ff 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/layered_repository/image_layer.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/layered_repository/image_layer.rs
@@ -315,8 +315,7 @@ impl ImageLayer {
         let book = chapter.close()?;
 
         // This flushes the underlying 'buf_writer'.
-        let writer = book.close()?;
-        writer.get_ref().sync_all()?;
+        book.close()?;
 
         trace!("saved {}", path.display());
 
diff --git a/zenith_utils/Cargo.toml b/zenith_utils/Cargo.toml
index 22c1c9bab6..86ad3d538a 100644
--- a/zenith_utils/Cargo.toml
+++ b/zenith_utils/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1"
 thiserror = "1.0"
 tokio = "1.11"
+crossbeam-utils = "0.8.5"
 
 slog-async = "2.6.0"
 slog-stdlog = "4.1.0"
diff --git a/zenith_utils/src/batch_fsync.rs b/zenith_utils/src/batch_fsync.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c81ef008d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zenith_utils/src/batch_fsync.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+use crossbeam_utils::thread;
+
+use std::{
+    fs::File,
+    io,
+    path::PathBuf,
+    sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering},
+};
+
+pub fn batch_fsync(paths: &[PathBuf]) -> std::io::Result<()> {
+    let next = AtomicUsize::new(0);
+
+    let num_threads = std::cmp::min(paths.len() / 2, 256);
+
+    if num_threads <= 1 {
+        for path in paths {
+            let file = File::open(&path)?;
+            file.sync_all()?;
+        }
+
+        return Ok(());
+    }
+
+    thread::scope(|s| -> io::Result<()> {
+        let mut handles = Vec::new();
+        for _ in 0..num_threads {
+            handles.push(s.spawn(|_| loop {
+                let idx = next.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
+                if idx >= paths.len() {
+                    return io::Result::Ok(());
+                }
+
+                let file = File::open(&paths[idx])?;
+                file.sync_all()?;
+            }));
+        }
+
+        for handle in handles {
+            handle.join().unwrap()?;
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
+    })
+    .unwrap()
+}
diff --git a/zenith_utils/src/lib.rs b/zenith_utils/src/lib.rs
index 96b3cf5066..9522278f3d 100644
--- a/zenith_utils/src/lib.rs
+++ b/zenith_utils/src/lib.rs
@@ -40,3 +40,6 @@ pub mod logging;
 
 // Misc
 pub mod accum;
+
+/// Utility for quickly fsyncing many files at once
+pub mod batch_fsync;